HERO Shadowrun Design Notes 1

I start at the base - the underpinnings: The things you will definitely encounter, such as criminals, cops, gangsters, and so on. I follow through with things like codified Laser weapons and reflective armor, codified vibro-blades, and other sci-fi equipment that partially appears in the books. This is not only good to have for any Hero game, it provides a base from which to compare other weapons - especially since I'll be converting from GURPS Ultratech and the Shadowrun books, among others.

Once again, slightly different from what I was going for with Buffy, which exists in a nearer future and is closer to modern day than sci-fi. Laser weaponry is still the Department of the Intiative -type stuff in BtVS RPG.

Also slightly different is the reliance on cybernetics instead of magic, despite the fact that my Shadowrun HERO world is awash in low-level magickery and heavily populated by fantasy races, with hordes of ratlings and goblins popping-up in tent cities on the outskirts of large towns and cities around the world. Magic, in fact, is a known and accepted part of the world, where it definitely still turns heads in the Buffyverse - even Buffy's.

I finished writing-up my water-based military and will reuse the stats for other military branches (with a few skills changes). I designed a battleship, speedboats, and the troops and personnel attached to them! Next up is the economy, which is going to be based largely on CyberHERO and Dark Champions values, and is going to take a long time. Luckily, I use Market Day (software to track TTRPG economies), which will definitely help.

Actually, many of the equipment lists Hero provides has some price attached to most items, so hopefully it turns out to be more of a data entry job than a "start-at-the-beginning" problem. Either way, I have a start on it.

HERO is not as much a RPG in and of itself as it is a system for creating TTRPG, so it takes a massive amount of work to run a campaign. However, since I'm doing this solo (right now), I'm able to cut a lot of corners and don't have to worry about being as specific as I would in an actual, sit-down game. I'll be doing the lore last, even if that's not the best way to do it, only because that part is just typing on the computer; I'm doing all of this (except that part) in a 3-ring binder.

I decided on doing it this way so I can use index cards for battles, and so that I did not have to deal with tables. I can't bring you much here if I am using tables, and they make things messy in most vertical-scrolling documents (sadly, because I would use them all the time), so it wasn't nostalgia, it was ease-of-use. We'll just have to wait to see if it makes anything easier to use or find, but that was my thinking in "going retro."

Here's a vibro-blade:

10 Vibro-Blade—OAF, Ind. 10,000¥, BMM 0
2d6 HKA AP, +1 OCV

The vibrating blade hums gently in your fist. It is a comforting feeling. You understand it can really throw-off those who aren't used to it, so you're glad that you are. Even if your target is wearing Kevlar, when you see your opening, you take it.

© The Weirding, 2025