SWO House Rules for simplified SR6 combat

These notes discuss some ways to simplify the combat rules just enough to make a melee session quicker and more fun to run. How exactly? We'll get in-depth below, but the highlighted sections are the most important for quick reference.

Here are the published optional rules from the "Sixth World Companion" that we'll be using:

• Edge as Dice Pool Modifications (p144) - A player can convert any or all awarded Edge to +1 dice pool (per Edge). Edge actions can also be paid for via -1 dice per edge.
• Streamlined Edge (p144) - The GM awards edge by GM Fiat at the beginning of each round.
• Armor Lessens Physical Damage (p149) - Convert 1 box of Physical damage to 1 box of Stun for every point of Armor Reduction (or Blast Reduction).
• High Strength Reduces Recoil (p150) - Both hands required on the weapon, STR 7+ reduces recoil by 1, 10+ reduces by 2.
• You Can't Dodge Bullets (p151) - Uses an Attack Threshold instead of the AR/DR comparison to reduce an attack to a single roll.

The change from using the AR/DR comparison highlights the need for the following house rules:

• Adjustments to weapon modifications and accessories to account for AR no longer being used (addressed below).

The examples in these notes use the Street Samurai archetype from the core book, p87, as the sample character. This guy has the following gear, attributes, etc, which are taken into account in the examples that follow:

  Gear
  -----
  Armor Jacket:     +4 DV

  Cyber/Bioware
  -----
  Bone Lacing:      +2 DV (titanium)
  Dermal Plating:   +3 DV
  Muscle Aug 3:     +3 STR
  Muscle Toner 2:   +2 AGI
  Wired Reflexes 1: +1 REA, +1 initiative die
  Cyberarm:         AGI 5, STR 10
  Reflex Recorder:  Close Combat +1
  Reflex Recorder:  Firearms +1

  Attributes
  -----
  BOD:             7
  AGI:             3 (5 in cyberarm) (including +2 from Muscle Toner)
  REA:             4 (including +1 from Wired Reflexes)
  INT:             4

  Skills
  -----
  Close Combat             8 (including reflex recorder)
  Close Combat (Blades)   10 (Blades specialization)
  Firearms                 5 (including reflex recorder)
  Firearms (Heavy Pistols) 7 (Heavy Pistols)

  Attack dice w/ Blades:      10+AGI(5) (using cyber arm) = 15
  Attack dice w/ Heavy Pistol: 7+AGI(5) (using cyber arm) = 12

  Defensive Rating (DR): BOD + Armor, etc.    16
  Defensive Dice:        REA + INT             8

  Threshold Modifier:    2
  Armor Reduction:       2
  Blast Reduction:       4

Below is a summary set of steps for calculating the Threshold that the Attack roll is made against. These are outlined from the notes in the Companion (p151).

These rules by themselves go a long way towards speeding up combat, but there's more work to be done.

Problems

Because we are no longer using the AR/DR comparison, AR by itself is of no implicit value. This has some side effects.

• Abilities like some Adept powers that grant Attack Rating (Penetrating Strike) are now useless. That's ok, get something else instead.
• Weapon modifications to Attack Rating (AR) like Smartgun links or Personalized Grip are left under-utilized or useless.
• Recoil from SA/BF/FA fire only affects AR.

Do these mods turn into dice pool mods? Recoil is modified as such: SA/BF/FA at -2/-4/-6 to AR.

Weapon modifications can reduce recoil penalties (Gas Vent System, etc).

Weapon modifications can also adjust attack rating (Smart, Laser, Personalized Grip, etc) but we aren't using AR here.

Firing Mode modifications as Threshold modifiers?

The Street Samurai has a CMDT (4P SA/BF 4/11/7/-/-, smart). If he fires a burst, that's -4 to AR. STR(10) cuts that to -2, and he has a Smartgun link which is another +2 AR. So the +2 AR and STR value nullify the recoil for him using burst fire mode.

If Attack Rating isn't used, then recoil means nothing, so let's fix that.

If we instead apply that recoil modifier to the Threshold that we're now using, recoil is a thing again. And if we apply it with the same values as the normal rules for altering Attack Rating, by altering the Threshold instead, we're back in business (with changes).

First, let's fix the Firing Mode modification notation to make more sense when using it with an Attack Threshold. Rather than the normal -2/-4/-6 notation (which is for Attack Rating adjustments), let's use this notation:

  SA/BF/FA +2/+4/+6  

References to these modifications below will assume this notation.

Next, lets address the mechanics of two specific weapon accessories that will almost always be used: Laser Sights and Smartgun Links. Both of these accessories modify the Attack Rating and only the Smartgun Link adds a single dice to the Attack roll and then only when using wireless mode. Let's align these two integral accessories with how they used to line up (Rule of Fun), and take care of the Attack Rating going away. Adjusting the dice here helps to align the results of an attack with the core mechanics as well.

  Laser sight +1 dice if in range and wireless
  Smartlink   +1 dice, or +2 dice if wireless

Now, instead of calculating the Attack Rating for a weapon in all range bands, apply modifications and accessories (as below) and record the results as recoil modifiers to the Threshold, noting the applicable ranges (because now we don't care what the attack rating is for a given range, just that the weapon can be effective within that range).

So now the Street Samurai would denote the CMDT as such with recoil reduced from +2/+4 for SA/BF (the only applicable Fire Modes) to +0/+2 because of STR(10). Denote these values with a + because they will be added to the Treshold for an attack. The CMDT doesn't have any additional modifications or accessories to account for here.

          CMDT: 4P SA/BF (+0/+2) (Close/Near/Medium), smart.

Now, this character has the relevant information noted for this weapon in a simplified manner, denoting DV, firing modes, firing mode Threshold modifiers, allowable ranges, and other notes.

Adjustments to weapon modifications and accessories

Now we need to address the Attack Rating going away in the scope of weapon modifications and accessories. Weapon modifications are in the Firing Squad book and can be applied to weapons alongside accessories, and there are additional accessories in that book as well.

Most of these modifications and accessories alter the Attack Rating in one or multiple ways and with them going away we want to alter them so that they are still useful and fun, primarily for improving the recoil of a weapon, but there are a few other updates as well. But also because weapon customization is fun!

Having built several weapons with modifications and accessories piled on, the typical AR adjustments don't exceed +6 at the most for a given range band, typically +4 is the most seen. By the core rules, these values only impact the AR vs DR Edge comparison so giving them full value as a dice pool bonus would be too much. How to simplify?

Thoughts here... There are three kinds of bonuses gained from modifications and accessories:

• Attack Rating adjustments
• SA/BF/FA firing mode resets (i.e. -1/-2/-4) or penalty reductions.
• Dice pool modifiers (Smartgun Link, also Laser Sight by house rule)

The following updates to the existing weapon modifications and accessories remove Attack Rating adjustments and replace them with recoil modifiers or other appropriate changes. Note that we're going from a +X Attack Rating modifier to a -X Recoil modifier. This is so we wind up with a simple number to add to the Attack Threshold (if applicable) rather than having to do weird calculations somewhere.

  NOTE: Recoil modifiers can only lower or negate the Threshold
        modifier for the given mode, they cannot be turned into a bonus.

With the above changes to the available modificaitons and accessories, we have taken the AR adjustments out of the equation, replacing them with recoil modifiers or other applicable bonuses. This would let a person so interested in fine tuning a weapon with modifications and accessories be able to have a lot of flexibility in setting a weapon up like they wish addressing recoil, style, concealability and a few dice pool additions.

Testing

Let's return to our example using the Street Samurai archetype. We're not awarding any Edge or spending any, so both parties are on equal footing for the purposes of these test scenarios.

• The Street Samurai has a Predator VI (3P SA/BF 10/10/8/-/-, smart). We've noted his weapon mods ahead of time, basically just smartlink and STR(10) for recoil -2. So recoil is: SA/BF +0/+2/--. The smartlink provides +1 dice, +2 dice if wireless.
• He is firing SA at a target much like himself with a Treshold modifier of 2, near range (+1), no cover, SA mod +0. Threshold is 3.
• He rolls an attack roll AGI(5) + Firearms(7) +2 smart(wireless) 14 dice ~ 4 hits, 1 net hit, 5P damage (3P +1(SA) +1(net hit).
• The defender has armor reduction of 2. This splits the damage into 3P and 2S.
• An optional BOD soak here would be BOD(7) ~ 2 hits, reducing damage to 3P (or 1P and 2S).

Using the normal Attack Rating adjustments instead of boiling those down to simple recoil modifiers, let's run that again.

• He fires SA at a target much like himself with a Treshold modifier of 2, near range (+1), no cover. Threshold is 3.

Let's stop there. Note that this step is identical to that above with the exception of no SA modifier. In this setup, because the character has a high enough STR, recoil is nullified so there are no modifications to the attack rating of the weapon. So this method, in this example, results in the same end-result.

The Attack Rating adjustments only impact the amount of Edge awarded at the begining of each attack. By increasing the Threshold of the attack by unaccounted for recoil (removing net hits), we balance the increased damage gained. The advantage here is that a character with recoil reducing STR and weapon modifications will do more damage because he won't have net hits reduced from a higher Threshold.

Close combat? There is only AR/DR comparison for Edge, so as long as Edge is still being awarded for use, close combat should be relatively unaffacted and follow the same basic flow as above. There are more factors to involve in close combat as well, like more Edge actions and martial arts.

Let's do the same example with a different, non-optimized weapon that our Street Samurai has picked up off of the ground, an AK-97: 5P SA/BF/FA 4/11/9/7/1 (+0/+2/+4 for our STR(10) Street Samurai).

• Street Samurai fires FA at a group of grunts which we will give a Threshold Modifier of 1 to (avg BOD, armor vest), Medium range (+2), no cover, FA mode (+4). Threshold is 7.
• He rolls an attack roll AGI(5) + Firearms(5), 10 dice ~ 4 hits, misses.

This sort of reflects what would have happened had we applied that recoil mod of 4 to the grunts as Edge (in the AR/DR comparison), they would have had an additional Edge to try to avoid getting hit.

What if the AK-97 had full recoil mods on it?

• Street Samurai fires FA at a group of grunts which we will give a Threshold Modifier of 1 to (avg BOD, armor vest), Medium range (+2), no cover, FA mode (+0). Threshold is 3.
• He rolls an attack roll AGI(5) + Firearms(5), 10 dice ~ 4 hits, success with damage at 5P for every valid target within 1m (p109).

Recoil is difficult to overcome, and here with a weapon that has been modified to do that, we have more success.

Summary

These house rules seek to simplify SR6 combat a little bit, addressing these points by:

• Removing the AR/DR comparison which normally would happen as a part of every action during combat. This comparison requires that both the GM and character calculate the Attack Rating for the given attack with all factors each turn, allowing the GM to award up to 2 Edge. This is a cumbersome and non-rewarding exercise, taking away fun and game time.
• The GM awards Edge once per turn (or as needed), greatly simplifying that step.
• Allowing players to use edge in their dice pools. Rule of Fun!
• Making armor count for more than an Attack Rating abstraction.
• Reducing the attack to a single roll made by the attacker. This roll accounts for armor, range and a small number of other elements.
• Updating weapon modification and accessory rules to use recoil modifiers instead of Attack Rating adjustments which are no longer useful.

Matrix Rules Modifications

Similarl to the combat rules discussed (at length) above, we'll look at simplifying Matrix actions to achieve the following:

• Preserve the rule of cool and make sure to make the Matrix easy to use.
• Reduce the complexity again of per-action comparisons and opposing rolls.
• Modify existing published items, programs, etc, in order to continue or even enhance their usefulness.
• Keep the decker at the table!

Attacking

By simply reducing rolls to attacker vs. Firewall/Sleaze, we speed things up and incorporate both matrix and non-matrix aspects as only deckers and technomancers are going to have a Sleaze attribute.