[Lighthouse]

I love the world of Shadowrun but struggle with the rule system. I would love to run a play by post on here of a playtest of a Shadowrun 5E to Savage Worlds Interface Zero/fantasy companion conversion (Provided I could find players into that) would that be allowed? Let me know. Thank you.

[Jack_Spade]

Really, Savage Worlds? I have considerable doubts that you'll be able to capture the spirit of SR with this system.
But good luck anyway 

[Lickintoad]

It really depends on what you'd consider the spirit of Shadowrun.  Lethality is just a function of numbers that can be adjusted.  Tone is largely a group choice (mine tends toward "black trenchcoat") that is system-agnostic.  I would think the hardest thing would be figuring out how to get the cyber/bioware to interact with the system, but I'll be honest in that I really know nothing about Savage Worlds.  I have considered trying Shadowrun with FFG's Star Wars system, though.  It would simplify a ton of fiddly combat rules that my group tends to gloss over anyway.

[Lighthouse]

Savage Worlds interface Zero is a rules light version of Shadowrun already as far as the tech goes. As an adult and not having 8 hours/week to dedicate to Shadowrun it is hard when combat takes 4 hours two of which being arguing over interpretations of the rules. I am mostly struggling with capturing the magic system.

[PeterSmith]

...it is hard when combat takes 4 hours two of which being arguing over interpretations of the rules.

"You have one minute to sum up your position. When you are done, they will have one minute to do the same. When you are both done, I will make a decision. That decision will be in effect for the rest of the game until we can all sit down and hash this out permanently. I will not chew up limited game time on this matter."

[jim1701]

...it is hard when combat takes 4 hours two of which being arguing over interpretations of the rules.

"You have one minute to sum up your position. When you are done, they will have one minute to do the same. When you are both done, I will make a decision. That decision will be in effect for the rest of the game until we can all sit down and hash this out permanently. I will not chew up limited game time on this matter."

I appreciate the sentiment but in almost 30 years of gaming I've seen this work... well never.  I realize that is my own anecdotal perspective, however.

[PeterSmith]

I appreciate the sentiment but in almost 30 years of gaming I've seen this work... well never.  I realize that is my own anecdotal perspective, however.

I'll admit that in my younger days this would never have worked. It does require a certain level of maturity that usually manifests over time, however some gamers simply do not ever hit this point.

[Mirikon]

...it is hard when combat takes 4 hours two of which being arguing over interpretations of the rules.

"You have one minute to sum up your position. When you are done, they will have one minute to do the same. When you are both done, I will make a decision. That decision will be in effect for the rest of the game until we can all sit down and hash this out permanently. I will not chew up limited game time on this matter."

I appreciate the sentiment but in almost 30 years of gaming I've seen this work... well never.  I realize that is my own anecdotal perspective, however.

Rule Zero. The DM can make any rules as he sees fit for his table. How it works in my RL D&D game, when there's a rules question, the DM gets an opinion from the rules lawyer, who is generally the other person most familiar with the rules (typically myself). We come to a quick consensus, keep things rolling, and myself and others look things up outside of game time. If the ruling was wrong, then we chalk it up to dumb luck (and something that will never happen again) if it was in the players' favor, and the DM finds a way to sneak in some kind of recompense to the affected player, if it was not. Actual time spent debating rules at the table is a couple minutes, at best, unless things get freaky, like trying to get someone's head to wrap around the fact that the giant skeletal T-rex following the necromancer has a pack with a ton of loot in it packed securely in its rib cage.

[Beta]

Yah, I've generally always played with "When in doubt, GM makes a call for this situation.  It is not a precedent yet-- there is a chance after the session to discuss it further, find other rules, etc, and then for everyone to think about how we want it to work in the future.  But in the moment it is more important to keep the game moving than to be perfect about every rule."  Although to make that reasonable the GM has to be be open to occasionally rewinding things a little bit, if a player has read a rule one way and relied on it, and based a series of actions on that.

[MijRai]

Or, steal a line from the Warhammer table-top games; when in doubt, assign heads or tails.  Flip a coin.  Whoever wins has their interpretation used until the end of the game.

[Mirikon]

So, to sum up, this stuff is only a problem if your DM lets it.

[celondon]

...it is hard when combat takes 4 hours two of which being arguing over interpretations of the rules.

"You have one minute to sum up your position. When you are done, they will have one minute to do the same. When you are both done, I will make a decision. That decision will be in effect for the rest of the game until we can all sit down and hash this out permanently. I will not chew up limited game time on this matter."

Interface zero handles the tech side of SR moderately well. SW's magic system doesn't translate well at all, and you would need to devise your own rules for Astral effects. Doable, but perhaps a bit more work than you anticipate.

[SmilinIrish]

My group just gave up on SR as well.  No one was arguing, but no one could keep the rules of the matrix straight.  I spent more time helping the DM and Players play than I did playing my character.  Eventually they got frustrated because no one had time to pour over the boards for errata.  The book is laid out horribly.  I love the world, and I love the system, but I couldn't keep it floating. 

Consequently our group settled on SW (which I thought I hated because it is sooooo basic.)  Then I found the IZ 2.0 setting for SW.  Hacking seems great.  rules are more streamlined and clear. 

You will not approximate magic characters very well.  Magic characters in Shadowrun are quite powerful.  Starting with 10 spells, assenssing as a skill rather than detect magics spell, ability to cast spells, summon (spirits are so abusable), plus astral projection.  Oh the astral projection. 

Couple of tips:  Create your own races for Trolls and Orks.  Give Trolls the Brawny Edge, Upsized Edge, have them start with D6 in vigor, and give them the hardy quality.   Require them to spend 2 points to raise smarts above d4 in char gen.  give them a run die of D4 rather than D6.  Give them -1 to Street Cred.  Didn't do Orks, so you'll have to figure that one out. 

Use the no PP rule.  Don't use the skill specialization rule (or if you do, double the number of extra points).  Let magic characters use cyber, but reskin it as magic. 

[Lighthouse]

Thank you for your advice. I like your conversion ideas. As to arguing that is not the only problem. I have Dm'd SR5 for a year and still feel like I don't understand it. I plan sessions and my players just walk through them. It is really hard to determine the difference between a breeze and A TPK and I can't understand the matrix system and get confused when trying to remember all the rules for every archetype. Every session was a lot of work on my part as I felt like I had to learn the rules for every scenario then the party would just go off the rails. I set up a difficult extraction from a hospital. Sammy says how thick is the wall. After a little math Sammy punches through the wall and pulls the target out. It was cool but I had to scramble to make it interesting and not just end there. I don't want to punish them for being creative but I am constantly finding myself saying "I didn't know you could do that." Especially everytime a new book comes out. Then you get into the language of the books making everything a shade of gray. I will just usually make a call based on whether it makes sense to me or not.

[Jack_Spade]

For this particular problem I'd prescribe a bit of pbp forum RPG. It really helps a lot to be able to reference everything with enough time on your hands.

I've played a few conversion attempts in other systems, but usually the effort to convert a system faithfully is a lot higher than merely learning the rules of the basis.

As for designing encounters: Won't you have the same problem with Savage Worlds? Especially where magic was involved it tended to get messy.