[Sid]

Not sure how welcome an idea it would be, but you could take a leaf out of Ghost in the Shell, utilising the different metahuman types as default shells. (standard, construction, covert ops, paramilitary, etc)

Differentiating that from standard cyberware and cyberzombies would be the main issue, but if you're running what amounts to essentially a pre-sixth age SR in 2070 ... well, there's no C-Zs or evidence of souls to consider, right? (and so much more ... sheesh)
Then you're fluffing out why Essence is not a redundant trait - I'd put it as how much of an integrated whole the sum of your flesh and steel actually makes. The more non-standard or disparate 'ware you fit into a shell, the more dysfunctional it becomes.

Not sure you'd have to get rid of magic, so much as selectively allow it and refluff what you use. I don't envy anyone doing the work involved in this.

[Kontact]

Have you considered trying Eclipse Phase?

[Redwulfe]

Running shadowrun with Zero magic would not be that hard you just need to rewrite the historical content, and even then you only need broad strokes when dealing with the world in general and specific details when dealing with the town you have.

Native Nations- look at the republic of Lakohta and what they are trying. in short they are trying to use recently signed rights agreements to pull out of the treaties that the government has put them under. they are not currently being taken seriously by the government due to Russel Means not being the official leader of the Lakohta people. but in the last election he was narrowly defeated. What if he hadn't and the US government was forced by the united nations to concede to the republics demands. This would open precedent for other native nations to possibly do the same. Many tribes claiming major portions of Canada cause the Canadian government to collapse and the land was sold to the US.

CAS- Cival unrest in the backing down of the US over the Republic causes major civil unrest and the CAS succeeds from the union once again. War is emanate.

Denver "The treaty city"- Due to world concern with the rising war in Afghanistan and the Succession of the CAS the North american governments set for to create a peace and formed the treaty city.

Though much of this is unlikely to ever happen it is somewhat plausible, and that is all you really need. Seattle stays a bastion of UCAS in the wilderness corporations still make a play for power maybe that's how the US go the money to buy Canada, maybe the recent economic problems caused the corporations to make a play that bailed out the governments but bought them the ability to become what they are in 2072.

It also allows you to update the material a bit and have Wireless take off from the start and Deckers never happened and such. Much more leeway.

Just some thoughts

In another vein you could check out Eclipse phase as was said earlier but I think that the Shadowrun world is much more fleshed out. Eclipse Phase does have some good stuff in it though so does Transhuman sphere. Maybe you can take parts of there histories and play with SR rules and tech. The possibilities are endless.

Red

[Prime Mover]

I'm an SR junky from way back and would recommend giving it a try.  For hard sci fi go check out Eclipse phase.  But if you want a zero magic cyberpunk game as stated before CP2020 is the granddaddy.  Interface zero is alittle more recent and comes in two flavors the latest Savaged. http://www.rpgobjects.com/index.php?c=rdp

[blindST]

I'm actually planning to run a game like this.  I really don't see the diffculty though.  Just nix the Metahumans, refluff magic, change a little history and your done.  Cyberpunk is an option but, and I'm sorry if I offend, has a really, overly diffcult system, so I wouldn't use it.  Eclipse Phase is a great game, but I don't think that's what your looking for either.  I mean, you'd have to change it all up too.  It is SciFi HORROR after all.  A friend of mine already ran a game in a similar way.  It worked just fine.  I say go for it and let me know how it runs.  Mine starts in a couple weeks if you want an update as well.

[Kot]

In your case I'd propose Interface Zero. It's a good successor of Cyberpunk 2020, and it's on Savage Worlds rules - so it's simple, fast and furious.

[Netzgeist]

I think there is no problem in using the mechanics of Shadowrun for playing a strict cyberpunk campaign.  I really like the system and the way it deals with most of the things the setting needs, and "taking away" magic, non-human races and almost every other module that's rooted in fantasy will not unbalance the system. I've also toyed the idea of using it, but by the time being I am too busy to create a satisfactory cyberpunk timeline...
Good luck in your game, and if you try using the Shadowrun mechanics, post your results.

[Kot]

Well, it will tear out it's heart. And the setting doesn't make much sense without magic even...

[Chaemera]

Well, it will tear out it's heart. And the setting doesn't make much sense without magic even...

Which just means that he'd be using the rules (excluding those for magic) in his own cyberpunk setting. That's the big choker, is re-writing an entire universe worth of fluff. Though, if you kept to a single sprawl, handwavium might suffice. Depends on the party, mine would still want to know everything about the world outside the city (after all, cultural mores are likely to affect job payout).

[Relic]

thanks for all the replies guys. I looked at every system that was recommended in this thread, and a few more besides, but im still stuck on Shadowrun. A lot of the suggestions here have been great and im working on writing up a history that explains some of the magical stuff in non magic ways. Will post here if this campaign actually gets off the ground.

[Charybdis]

thanks for all the replies guys. I looked at every system that was recommended in this thread, and a few more besides, but im still stuck on Shadowrun. A lot of the suggestions here have been great and im working on writing up a history that explains some of the magical stuff in non magic ways. Will post here if this campaign actually gets off the ground.

So, just to clarify.

You want a Shadowrun world, with Shadowrun Mechanics, but no magic at all?
No Metahumans?
No HMVV Plague?
No Surge?
No Magicians, Physads, Spirits, Spells?
No Orichalcum or magical minerals?
No Dragons?

Query: Are you allowing Technomancers?

In which case, it's actually really simple.
A) Remove every archtype or critter with a Magic attribute. Done.
B) Remove all races except Humans. Done.
C) Remove Great Dragons from head of boards, and replace with seemingly uber Human corporate leaders (or personal armies, in the case of Ghostwalker)
D) Rewrite history to account for Great Ghost dance effects etc as just Catastrophic geological phenomena (multiple volcanic explosions, etc)

Then fast forward to the current 2072 timeline, where noone really cares about the history anyway   and move on with Magic having never happened.

Personally, I really don't understand why you're doing this. Magic is a very cool, and integral part of the standard Shadowrun setting.

However, different strokes for different folks, and mechanically what you're doing is actually quite simple.

Cheers and good luck.

[Netzgeist]

thanks for all the replies guys. I looked at every system that was recommended in this thread, and a few more besides, but im still stuck on Shadowrun. A lot of the suggestions here have been great and im working on writing up a history that explains some of the magical stuff in non magic ways. Will post here if this campaign actually gets off the ground.

So, Relic, in which step are you? I'm kinda curious...

[Cass100199]

Instead of trying to write out the magic, end the magic age. It's tapped out and gone.

[Rockopolis]

Hah, and those stupid hippies were predicting 'Global Horroring'.

[Glyph]

I think you could remove metatypes, paracritters, and magic from Shadowrun fairly easily, rules-wise.  The remaining cyberpunk elements are balanced - technology becomes the sole focus of the game's transhuman themes, but you could say that about typical cyberpunk and post-cyberpunk.

The setting - well, how detailed do you really need it?  Megacorporations have become mini-feudal kingdoms waging continual covert war against each other, nations are weaker and often balkanized, the line between the haves and the have-nots is a DMZ, and cyber and bio technology can make people more than human.

You don't really need to adopt SR's history and fluff. You don't need goofy things like Indians taking over half of the country, the South seceding again, the Japanese turning into an aggressive military state, and so on.  You can still keep the megacorporations and criminal organizations.  The only thing I would suggest, since there won't be these eco-friendly magic places like Amazonia, is to play up the eco-activism and neo-anarchism more, to have some foils for the megacorporations (unless you want them to not have any foils, which is a staple of some cyberpunk).