[Ravenspoe]

Hi everyone!
I am not new to the Shadowrun game, but I am new in regards to being a GM. I have run games in the past (2nd Edition SR and a one shot of 4e SR). Granted the basics of the system are simple, but every time I try to get a grip on running ranged combat my eyes gloss over. I was reading the cool cheat sheets in the Runner's Toolkit and the steps are just baffling (add this, subtract this, match this recoil number to another set of number and find the remainder...). I really want to run a campaign, but my fear is (like my last attempt) I will get in for one or two sessions and run away.

It cannot be this hard! Am I reading into this too much and the answer is right in front of me?

Help!

[FastJack]

Recoil and remainder? Which sheet are you looking at?

[Ravenspoe]

Recoil and remainder? Which sheet are you looking at?

The Ranged Combat  Quick Reference Sheet.
Steps 7-10 make me want to cry

[Raven Runner]

I'm in the exact opposition position so maybe we can help each other out, I'm pretty comfortable with ranged combat and not at all good on hacking and magic.

Ranged combat has a lot of numbers, but at the same time once you do it a few times it makes so much more sense.

Attacker roles Agility+Combat skill ( say pistols)+lot's of modifiers (more on this in a second) then Defender roles Reaction+modifiers, note how many net hits if any the attacker gets. In other words subtract the defenders hits from the attackers and see if you have a positive number.

Add attackers net hits to DV of weapon ( damage value), determine the type of ammo used and add the ATTACKERS armor penetration to the DEFENDERS armor value. (if attack is physical and the damage value does not exceed the defenders Armour Value than the damage is changed to Stun damage)

Now you have two numbers, the accacker has there number of hits from the attack added to there weapons DV, the defender has there Armour Value minus the Armour Penitration of the attack.

Defender roles Body+Adjusted Armour Value, each hit reduces the attackers DV by one. The Attackers DV minus the Defenders hits in the previously mentioned check equals the damage done.

Yes, this is really complex, one you do it a few times, just for practice, you start to get used to it.

The amount of modifiers is crazy, so make sure your players are the ones figuring out which ones they get in advance and writing that down.

Also, if any one wants to go over what I just wrote and figure out if I messed stuff up I would appreciate that.
And feel free to reword this as well, I'm sure some one can do much better.

[Mirikon]

7. Subtract the Recoil Compensation from the number of rounds fired this Phase, then subtract one; the difference is the recoil modifier.
8. If the weapon is a heavy weapon, double the recoil modifier.
9. If the weapon is a shotgun and the fire mode is BF or FA, double the recoil modifier.
10. If the recoil modifier is greater than zero, subtract it from your pool.

Its really simple. A gun in Burst Fire mode shoots 3 rounds in each burst. You can do two bursts as a complex action. Now, this kicks the gun a bit, making it move off target. Each bullet after the first subtracts from your dice pool, so you'd be getting a -5 to hit. However, there are things like gas vent systems, personalized grips, shock pads, and the like that help you negate some of that kick. So if you have a RC on that weapon of 4, then that means you only get a -1 to hit.

Now, some guns kick more than others. Heavy Weapons (machine guns, grenade launchers, assault cannons, etc.) and shotguns in Burst Fire or Full Auto mode are the main candidates. Because these weapons kick more, any recoil you don't compensate for with RC counts double. So in the example above, you'd take a -2 to hit, while if you didn't have any RC at all, you'd take a -10 to hit.

It may look like a lot, but it is really simple once you get the hang of it.

[All4BigGuns]

Okay here is an example of one of the more extreme shots.

Attacker wants to kill Defender quick, so he goes full-auto on the target.

Attacker has a 5 Agility and a 6 in automatics with a specialty in assault rifles and a smartlink (15 dice pool)
He's firing two long, narrow bursts giving a -5 recoil penalty for the first and a -6 for the second.
He has 5 recoil compensation (not that hard to get) so the penalty is mitigated to none for the first and -1 for the second.
Final attack dice pools are 15 for the first and 14 for the second.

Rolling to hit he gets 6 hits on the first and 4 hits on the second.
Defender rolls his Reaction of 7 and gets 3 hits (good roll Defender) on the first.
He then rolls his Reaction - 1 to defend against the second and gets only 1 hit. (Ouch).
Net hits from the attack rolls are 3 for the first and 3 for the second.

Adding this to the 6P DV of the assault rifle comes to 9P for both bursts.
The assault rifle has an AP of -1 which is now subtracted from Defender's ballistic armor (the first number)
Defender now only has 8 ballistic armor after AP making the damage physical for both.
Now the +5 DV is added to both for the long burst making both 14P DV. This is what must be resisted.

Now Defender rolls his 5 Body plus his now 8 ballistic armor (13 dice) to resist.
He gets lucky and manages 6 hits on the resistance, so he "only" takes 8P damage from the first burst.
Rolling again for the second burst, Defender only gets 3 hits, taking 11P damage.
This puts him seven points into Physical Damage Overflow, which I believe is enough to make Defender quite dead.

[Mirikon]

Actually, that's wrong. Recoil is cumulative. Those two long narrow bursts? -5 for the first one, -11 for the second.

[Claíomh]

Are long burst not limited to 1 per Action Phase? Sorry, AFB at the moment.

[Mirikon]

Long bursts are a simple action, but yes, you can only do one per turn. Full bursts are a complex action.

You can, however, do a Long burst and a short burst.

[JustADude]

Long bursts are a simple action, but yes, you can only do one per turn. Full bursts are a complex action.

You can, however, do a Long burst and a short burst.

Unless, of course, it's a High Velocity weapon or Minigun.

[Sichr]

We can solve this simple way, Raven.
We are both orks and we both have:
natural LowLight vision
Single IP
Reaction 4
Intuiition 4
Agility 4
Pistols skill 4
Dodge skill 4
Ares Predator
 +Smartgun

We are on the
Narrow street with some garbage cans, two street lamps one on each half of the street
Initial distance is 50 meters
We are trying to kill each other
No surprise happened

Use: www.invisiblecastle.com

Roll initiative!

Raven vs. Test Subject 1
CT1, IP1:
Test Subject: INT(4)+RE(4) (8d6.hits(5)=3) = INI 11

[Zilfer]

You going to roll up a battle? Damn, I want to join. XD

[Ravenspoe]

OK it makes a bit more sense now. Thank you for breaking it down like that
But 10 completely looses me...

7. Subtract the Recoil Compensation from the number of rounds fired this Phase, then subtract one; the difference is the recoil modifier.
8. If the weapon is a heavy weapon, double the recoil modifier.
9. If the weapon is a shotgun and the fire mode is BF or FA, double the recoil modifier.
10. If the recoil modifier is greater than zero, subtract it from your pool.

Its really simple. A gun in Burst Fire mode shoots 3 rounds in each burst. You can do two bursts as a complex action. Now, this kicks the gun a bit, making it move off target. Each bullet after the first subtracts from your dice pool, so you'd be getting a -5 to hit. However, there are things like gas vent systems, personalized grips, shock pads, and the like that help you negate some of that kick. So if you have a RC on that weapon of 4, then that means you only get a -1 to hit.

Now, some guns kick more than others. Heavy Weapons (machine guns, grenade launchers, assault cannons, etc.) and shotguns in Burst Fire or Full Auto mode are the main candidates. Because these weapons kick more, any recoil you don't compensate for with RC counts double. So in the example above, you'd take a -2 to hit, while if you didn't have any RC at all, you'd take a -10 to hit.

It may look like a lot, but it is really simple once you get the hang of it.

[Ravenspoe]

Roll initiative!

Raven vs. Test Subject 1
CT1, IP1:
Test Subject: INT(4)+RE(4) (8d6.hits(5)=3) = INI 11

8d6.hits(5) → [2,3,1,3,5,5,1,4] = (2) (You win)

[Sichr]

Test subject 1
Ready weapon (Simple action)
Fire a gun at Ravenspoe (Simple action)
Agility(4)+Pistols(4)+Smartgun(2)-Extreme range(6) (Partial light doesnt matter for the Low light vision so we can leave this out. Only one shot in this IP, so no recoil modifier) (4d6.hits(5)=1)
1 hit

Ravenspoe`s defence roll is next. He needs 1 hit on defence Two choices:
1) Roll Defense: Reaction
2) Roll Full defense: Reaction + Dodge, but consumes 1 complex action. It is interupt action, you may use it anytime, you can even use the first IP from your next Combat turn to do it. Well, using this means you will not be able to return fire (unless you got multiple IPs)