Editing ShadowRun.DnD5 (section)

== EXPLOITAND & EDITS OPTIONAL HOUSERULE ==
Something I encountered trying to run Shadowrun is that the game can REALLY bogs down during planning and legwork. There are just too many options for players on what to look into, bouncing ideas around, plans and strategies they might consider, etc. In Dungeons & Dragons these are called '''''Plot Points''''' (in the DMG Optional Rules) but they are a bit different here. 

The idea follows something done in '''Blades in the Dark''' ‘''powered by Apocalypse World''’ RPG system. In that game players take on the roles of rogues and hucksters in a big urban fantasy thieves’ guild. In the game you start out with “Planning & Engagement” adventure steps, where the crew (the heroes) huddle around flickering lanterns in their lairs to plot, scheme, bicker about the best approach, lament the dangers and lust about the coins to come. But the players don’t have to do the nitty-gritty planning. Instead the heroes take care of that off-screen and instead they choose a type of plan they have already made. The '''types of plans''' there are include – “Assault”, “Deception” or “Stealth” to name a few. The type of job or plan they make is based on the basic “Details” of the job. In Shadowrun this would be the Mr. Johnson’s job offer. The heroes would get to ask some initial question and negotiate their fee and then very quickly after that we would go straight to the action. 

But what happens if they get into the action and discover you are missing a key piece of information or piece of equipment or they did not plan for something that they logically could have thought up beforehand? The solution is called an ‘'''''Exploits'''''’. These are group generation options where you can retro-edit a scene in the middle of the game. Instead of spending lots of time depending and hashing over your plans for hours of real game time the character get their mission and then the very quickly jump into the action. If, later in the game, they come upon a situation they are not prepared to handle one of the players can use an Exploit, make a skill check (depending on what they want to do, etc.) and if they succeed, spend the group point and adjust their actions according. 

“'''''We had a plan for that'''''” is when the group can edit something that is happening in the present by saying they planned for it during the off-screen planning part of the adventure. This could be buying some extra gear before the advance or having some plan. Basic edits might be worth only 1 exploit point and require a low DC skill check. Higher, more complex ones might require 2 or even 3 points with a higher DC check. 

Another exploit type is “'''''What did my contact say about that'''''?” Legwork is an area I feel the game can get really bogged down in as the players ask different questions and many of them having nothing to do with the case/adventure at hand (sometimes as they get off on a tangent or mislead, etc.). So instead of wasting lots of game time on it or having players pursue inaccurate data, they can spend an Exploit to gain some legwork information of their present situation by saying they did all this work before the action started. After all, in Shadowrun the Mr. Johnson almost never is telling the truth or giving you all the information. You are a ‘denial asset’ after all and it would not be good for the bottom line if you divulged sensitive information to the wrong party. 

Exploits are generated by the group’s size and the level of danger of the mission. Not to give too much away during some adventures the GM might say that the Mr. Johnson assumes the party that the job is a ‘Milk Run’ and not that dangerous. The GM assigns the party ½ the party size in exploit points because of this but knows that there are some big complications built into the game that the party will run into fairly shortly and when that happens informs them of this but bumping up the Exploit total, just when the need them. 
This helps maintain some of the surprise in the adventure. Exploit Points depend on the basic adventure danger level… 
* '''Milk Runs''' – easy job with low level of overall danger (unless the group screws up). Example – steal something from a low-security area. ½ (round up) Exploit points per party member. 
* '''Low Danger''' – moderate or average danger levels for your typical Shadowrun team. Example – break into a low end corp to grab some tech/data. 1 Exploit point a party member. 
* '''Dangerous Job''' – a fairly tough job with some high risks involved for the team. Example – break into a mega-corp research lab to get samples and data. 2 Exploit points a party member. 
* '''Extreme Danger''' – high levels of danger and risk (to either life or freedoms). Example – break into a mega-corp black op section and kidnap the executive in charge. 3 Exploit points a party member. 

'''HOW THIS ALL GOING WORK?'''</br> 
Mr. Johnson hires the team. He gives them a basic mission spiel and offer of cash payout. This will set a basic ‘mission type’ (blow up some center at night would be an ‘assault’, sneak into area and plan evidences, don’t get caught might be ‘stealth’ etc.) that gives the team their basic ‘plan or mission’ type and the basic number of Exploit points. 

The heroes might ask some question and/or negotiation extra cash or equipment rewards. After that the heroes each get to make one or two contact rolls (Gather Information vs. their Contact type) for any extra basic information they might get. The heroes should have their basic load or equipment already on hand and picked out. If they want something extra they can purchase or attempt to find it (with a roll) now and add it to their sheets. 

Then we move into the action. The GM gives them the basic set up of where they are and what is happening for this mission. If there is a complication that is somewhat outside their control (like say someone already knows about the Mr. Johnson’s actions and is trying to stop it and already knows about the heroes) this can be where the action starts instead. Say the heroes are heading towards the start of the mission and are about to get ambushed (maybe making a roll vs. Passive Perception) and then “Roll Initiative”. Or if in the middle of the adventure comes up that a contact might have pertinent information the player can ask the GM “Hey my contact X might have had some info on this, can I have contact him?” If it makes since the GM gives the character a normal contact roll, pays the cash to his contact based on that roll and the GM gives them whatever they might have known. Now the player has the info and it can be assumed that everyone heard about it from the player and can act accordingly. Or one of the heroes pipes up saying he wants to do something or to have planned for a percent situation or maybe wants to have picked up a piece of gear and forgot so can he say he purchased it already? Or wants to gain some background of a person or area or situation with past legwork. 

The GM then provides a roll, depending on the situation. Some examples… 
:(a) The group is sneaking into a place. The job did not say to totally avoid collateral damage etc. and the team spots a pair of barghest guard dogs outside the facility they are breaking into. They don’t want to take the chance that the dogs’ howls might attract the guards so one of the heroes says “Hey could I have purchased some of those ‘stummer-sound wave jammers’? I think they should be able to mask these dogs’ howls for us to take them out and not alert anyone! The game sees that the stummer is not restricted or illegal and just costs money. The character could use one of his ‘edits’ to have the stummer on hand and ready to go.
:(b) Or the heroes are breaking into a facility and forgot to bring wire-cutters when they encounter a chain-link fence. Its’ also electrified. Someone could use an edit to have remembered to grab a pair of ‘grounded’ non-conductive cutters and just pay the money now. 
:(c) Or the heroes are sneaking down an interior hallway and see a check point ahead that also has a big gun emplacement in front of it. While the rigger is attempting to hack the security system that controls the gun itself, one of the other heroes might ask if he could have planned on using the ventilation system at some point to get closer to one of the guard posts unnoticed. The GM had said that the ventilation system was too small to crawl through earlier. But the runner had studied the schematics and noticed that at this point there was an older design or something similar and it was big enough to get through here. The GM might give the runner a Dexterity (Stealth) check '''DC15''' to be able to use this edit in this situation. Failure means he can’t use this edit in this situation as the building had been updated since the runner saw the plans or if he makes it by +5 or +10, not only does he get the edit but he is able to sneak closer than he had asked for or that more of the team could his lead, getting a bonus on a group Stealth check, etc. 
:(d) Or the heroes are fleeing the corp with security hot on their tail. The team spotter notices some flashing Lone Star cruisers heading this way. She asks if she can use one of her edits to have bribed the local Lone Star Sergeant to be slow on any responses to calls to this neighborhood. The GM asks how much the bribe might be and then gives the runner a Charisma (Persuasion) based on that. If she succeeds she deduces the cash and notices that they are a few blocks off and that they don’t seem to be in too great a hurry and have slowed for stop-lights, etc. Failure might mean that the cops are little closer and that Sergeant is in the lead car with a pissed off look (maybe he is honest or he is pissed the offer was so low, etc.). :(e) Or the team is breaking into an Ares’s facility in the Barrens, looking to steal some research into a prototype laser weapon system that Ares is supposed to be testing here. Inside the Decker stumbles across some files on a new germ-warfare treatment that Ares is testing for the Confederate States Marine Corp to combat some flu strain they discovered in the Caribbean League recently in the Narco-Wars with the Cartels there. One of the team members has a Street Doc contact and she asks “Hey my Street Doc use to do research in germ theory, can I have asked him about any ‘super-flus’ he might have heard about coming from that area?” The GM knows that the Mr. Johnson wants this research also ask his corporation is developing the flu weapon and wants to know how far along Ares is in developing a vaccine. He had told them to steal any and all research they stumble upon at the facility in the hopes they stumbled onto it also. He did not want them to know this of course but with a good contact roll the runner learns from her Street Doc contact that there was a corp by the name of NewGenics, that is based in Aztlan, was working on something similar and that the doc had heard rumors that the corp was partially funded by the drug cartels in the nation as well. This could have an interesting impact on how the heroes proceed.