You say "Ok. First and foremost, you need to understand that there are a few basic forms of Shadowrun dice tests."
Mira says "Alright."
You say "Everything gets a lot easier when you think in terms of these."
You say "The easiest is the Open Test. The Open Test means you roll the dice, and take the highest number."
Mira says "And use it as the TN against another skill."
You say "Stealth, intimidation, some social skills use Open Tests, the highest number is the TN for the other guy"
You say "Base TN, mind you."
Mira says "Okay."
You say "Then there's Opposed Test"
Mira nods.
You say "This test, you roll a number of dice vs a TN. The TN is set by the opponents attribute or skill"
You say "For example, an arm wrestle is a strength opposed test - You roll your strength vs theirs, and the TN is their strength."
You say "There TN is your strength, and so forth"
You say "Then there are Success Tests"
Mira nods.
You say "Success tests are what combat is based on."
Mira says "Combat is what I have problems with."
You say "Right. I'll get onto combat next."
You say "Success tests are where you roll a skill or attrib against a set TN, which is based of arbitrary values and not neccessarily a skill or attribute on another person"
You say "You need to be able to set the TN, and record the number of successes."
You say "Combat, B/R, Magic, all of these are success tests"
You say "Finally, to complicate things, there are 'success contests', which are much like success tests except you're competing"
You say "Decking has a lot of success contests"
Mira blinks.
You say "Success Contests are really just a combination of two opposed or two success tests, really. Dont worry about them too much."
Mira boggles.
You say "Anyway. Combat"
You say "Combat is a series of success tests."
You say "Whether its magic, ranged or melee, it all breaks down into success tests."
You say "The first thing you should do before GMing combat is to know your NPC's stats, and the second is to know your environment modifiers."
Mira nods.
You say "The first is easy, you set them yourself, preferably before the run if you're not great at flying by the seat of your pants"
You say "The second depends on where your players find themselves, ut it generally just means 'light modifiers'. When in ranged combat, all the data you need as a GM is usually found on pg 112"
Mira nods.
Mira says "Sure."

You say "Ok. For Cabal's benefit, we've just made note of the NPCs basic stats (Skill, init, armour, combat ware and base attributes) and the environmental conditions (basically lighting mods)"
You say "When you start the timestop (the combat) you should have your book open to 112. If its melee, its pg 123. Between these two tables, 90% of your GM data is covered."
You say "Then you go to inits. Inits are easy. Make a note of the numbers"
You say "The highest number goes first, following in descending order. When you reach the end of the list, take 10 from everyone's inits. If there are some people above 0 still, they get to go in the next pass. Keep going through the list until all are at 0 or under."
You say "For example, if Pearce, Mira and Cabal have inits of 23, 9, and 15, the order would be : First Pass - Pearce, Cabal, Mira, Second PAss : Pearce, Cabal, Third Pass : Pearce. end of Round."
You say "A round is about 3 seconds."
You say "Everyone with me so far?"
Mira nods.
Cabal says "crystal. Except i gota question at this point"
You say "Sure, dont be bashful"
Cabal says "lets say you've already done up inits. And theres now a surprise. Do you roll new inits, or just inits for the new people?"
You say "surprise is tricky, but no, you dont use new inits."
Mira says "Explain surprise. I don't see why, if the surprising person has less than super-twinky reaction, he or she can't attack."
You say "Ideally, you secretly roll inits for the ambushers as well, but dont tell anyone until they are seen in the round. That way they mesh easily"
Mira says "It makes surprise useless."
Cabal says "that makes sence pearce"
You say "Ok, surprise is basically this : Everyone rolls reaction vs TN 4. Count the successes for each person. You can only take actions AGAINST persons who scored less than you."
Cabal says "Mira, if you're the ambusher, and your target has not detected you , you roll reaction/2 your target rolls reaction/4"
Mira says "Oh?"
You say "Yes, if you're a sneaky ambusher, its -2 TN, GM's discretion. Yes, its hard to ambush twinky Reaction-whores :)"
Cabal says "but even then, a lucky guy with wires can roll eough 4s to surprise the supriser"
Pearce nods.
Mira says "It made me real mad on one of my plots when someone ran up some stairs really fast, thinking my villain was somewhere else. So I had them roll surprise. Suddenly MY villain couldn't move even though he heard the runner coming from a long ways off and had his gun all aimed already."
Pearce nods
You say "The person who rolls the least amount of successes is totally surprised, they cant take any actions. Everyone else can still act, just not against some people."
You say "You can still use radios, dive for cover, etc."
Mira sighs.
Mira says "Well anyway, continuing on."
You say "Ok. So we've got inits"
You say "We understand the turn order during passes"
You say "Next is actions. Some GMs are more strict on actions than others. I tend to be more strict. The list of actions starts on 105."
You say "Each time you get a turn, you get 1 free, and either two simple or 1 complex action to use. So when its a players turn, i get them to declare what they are doing in terms of actions"

You say "For example, a single shot or a burst (3 bullets) is a simple action. Full auto, or a melee attack, is a complex action. Reloading your gun takes two actions, eject a clip (either simple, or free with a smartlink) and insert clip (simple)"
You say "And so on and so forth"
You say "The more you define what you're doing in terms of actions, the easier it is to co-ordinate players, resolve actions, and foremost, remember the actions."
You say "Ok. So we now know when you get a go, and what you're doing with that go. Lets resolve combat."
You say "Combat is, as I said, a success test. Its basic format is you roll your dice against a TN, and count the successes."
You say "The target, if it gets hit, has two success tests to try and not be killed in the process."
You say "The basic format is thus : You start off with a base number, and then modify it. In ranged combat, you refer to the range table for the base TN. Ranges are on pg 111."
You say "Things like scopes and image magnification reduce the range TN."
You say "then, you take that base TN, and hit it with the table on pg 112, Ranged modifiers."
You say "Its simply scanning down the list and doing some addition/subraction."
You say "Lets take a simple example. Popper declares he will aim and fire at a man standing 500 metres away with his sniper rifle. He has a smartlink, but no scope or image mag."
You say "The TN would be a base of 6 (Long range)"
You say "So then the final TN would be 6, -2 (smartlink), and if w assume the target is well lit, there are no light modifications."
You say "So the final TN is 4."
You say "Understand how I got that?"
Mira nods.
You say "Ok, now lets get you to try something more complex. Popper now has an assault rifle, and declares he wants aim, and then fire a full auto 6 round burst at a running target in partial light 200 metres away. He has a smarlink, and 2 points of recoil compensation"
You say "Whats the first thing you tell him?"
Mira says "Aim is a simple action, and FA is complex."
You say "Have a cookie."
You say "Ok, so he says he wont bother aiming. Work out the TN for me, and talk it out as you do it."
Mira says "Let me open my book :P"
Pearce nods
Mira says "Okay, so the base is 6, for Long Range."
You say "Right."
Mira says "Target Running is +2, +2 for partial light, -2 for Smartlink-2 if the gun has it. Does he have eye mods?"
Mira says "What about recoil though, explain that."
You say "Ok, recoil is right at the top of the table on 112."
Mira says "so +6 recoil, -2 recoil comp."
You say "So his base recoil is +6, for 6 rounds. however he has 2 points of recoil comp, so its +4"
You say "Dont think of recoil comp as a minus to TN"
Mira says "Alright."
You say "Like, if I have 5 points of recoil comp, but fire 4 bullets, I dont get a -1 bonus."
Mira says "My alt has about twice as much recoil comp as needed...sheesh."
You say "I just dont suffer any recoil"
You say "Ok, so whats the final TN? Assume no eye mods or anything i havent said."
Mira says "Well that'd be 6 + 2 + 2 - 2 + 4 = 12."
You say "Exactly right. Not an easy hit."
You say "Which is why sammie's twink out their rifles and bodies ;)"
Mira says "Does Rangefinder help?"
Cabal says "it reduces range modifiers"
You say "It reduces grenade scatter, and I think it gives -1 TN at long or extreme range."
You say "But it doesnt work with a scope or image mag, its either one bonus or the other."
You say "Ok. So we've got the TN."
Cabal nods. "According to the CC its -1 for long range -2 for extreme range
You say "then we roll the dice."
Mira says "Wait, about the Rangefinder"
Pearce nods, and doesnt use the range finder so isnt all that familiar with it
Mira says "Do you just need a rangefinder in your smartlink, on your gun, or do you need both?"
Cabal says "either"
Mira says "Woo!"
You say "Yeah"
Mira says "but Ultrasound goggles require a Ultrasound scope."
Cabal says "Rangefinder on a gun takes a slot (underbarrel/top) tho"
You say "I'm not sure on the ultrasound"
You say "Thats in our advanced courses ;)"
Mira says "Fairly certain I saw it somewhere."
Mira says "Anyway..."
You say "In other words, I'd have to look it up"
Cabal nods.
You say "Ok, so you've got the TN. You make them roll the dice, and you note the successes."
You say "Ok. Now its the defenders turn. The defender has two tests in ranged combat, they can dodge (optional) and damage resistance (not optional)"
You say "the dodge test uses combat pool. Its TN is base 4, +1 for every three rounds fired, + wound modifiers."
You say "The GM may also add a penalty for environmental reasons, but thats a rare thing."
You say "So you get the defender to roll combat pool in the dodge, and take them away from the attackers successes"
You say "If the attackers successes drop below 0, then you dont need to do a damage resistance. If its 0 or more, you go onto damage resistance."
Mira says "0 or more?"
Mira says "Why 0?"
You say "Well, if Popper scored, say, 3 successes, and I only rolled 3 successes to dodge, it still hits"
Mira says "Ah."
You say "If i roll 4, I dodge it completely"
You say "Damage resistance is another success test. The TN is the power of the attack, minus armour. Some ammo affects the power, some affects armour. Exex adds +2 to power. APDS halves the defenders armour rating"
You say "Burst fire and full auto affect both power and damage level."
Mira says "Explain that."
You say "The burst thing?"
Mira says "Yeah."
You say "Ok. SR core rules assume you either hit them with all the bullets, or you miss completely"
Craig pages: Hey there.
You say "Instead of working them out as say, 6 seperate bullets, it says that for each bullet fired in full auto, add +1 to the power of the attack"
You say "For bursts, its +3, for our 6 round full auto, its +6 to power."
You say "It also says, for every 3 bullets fired, raise the damage level by one."
Mira says "So an Ares Alpha in Full Auto would do 14D?"
Cabal says "I thought it worked out to every 3 bullets fireed in a full auto shot, you add +3 power + 1 DL"
You say "So. Can you tell me, if i fire a 3 round burst and a 6 round burst from an 8M assault rifle, what damage would I do?"
Mira just did.
Mira says "Er, 11S for the first."
Pearce nods, right, Mira
You say "Cabal, yes, except what if I fire 5 bullets? What would the damage be then?"
You paged Craig with 'Yo, wassup?'.
Mira says "So what if I was firing ExEx rounds in the Ares Alpha?"
Mira says "Is it +2 Power before or after?"
You say "First, lets answer the 5 round question"
Cabal ponders...
Mira says "Bah, it'd be 13S."
You say "I fire five rounds from 8M rifle, whats the damage?"
You say "Right"
Cabal says "yea +5 power +1 dl"
You say "So Cabal, for full auto, dont think in terms of lots of 3, think in number of bullets."
You say "With things like ExEX, you add after autofire. So its +2, not +12, for our 6 round burst."
Cabal says "yea i had it confused, its every 3 bullets = +1 dl. each bullet is +1 power"
Mira says "You'd probably fire 5 if you ran out of ammo. Or were using High Velocity."
Pearce nods. "Or you only had 5 points of recoil comp and didnt want the +1 TN
You say "Ok. So. We know the power of the attack now. You then minus the ballistic rating of your armour. Thats the TN for your damage resistance test."
You say "You roll body + any CP you want (no limit on damage restance tests, unlike skills)"
You say "Note the successes, and compare it with teh attackers successes."
Mira says "When does CP refresh?"
You say "End of each round"
Mira says "thats when you roll new inits?"
You say "Yeah"
Craig pages: What all is this? Cult of Tigger? Craig is god? :)
You paged Craig with 'Some run Ikari/LW was GMing.'.
You say "Terms you will hear is phase, pass and round when dealing with timestops."
Mira says "And those are..."
You say "A pass is when you go through the list of players."
Mira nods.
You say "So in our previous example or Mira, Cabal and Pearce, there are three passes"
You say "A phase is the exact time you go. So if inits are 23 (Pearce) 15 (Cabal) and 9 (Mira), then Pearce gets three passes, and goes on phases 23, 13 and 3. Mira only goes on phase 9."
You say "Phases arent so important really, so its easier to think of 'turn order'."
Mira nods.
You say "Ok. Now. You've rolled Attack, Dodge and Damage Resistance."
You say "You then compare the successes. For every 2 'net' successes the attacker has, stage the damage level up by 1. For every two net successes the defender has, stage it down by 1."
You say "you cant go higher than D."
You say "Understand that?"
Mira says "Yeah."
You paged Craig with 'Its just yet another stupid comedy run'.
You paged Craig with 'Even if the run itself is serious, the whole theme is shot to hell because he named it Tigger and Craig, because he thought it would be funny.'.
You say "Lets put it all together."
Cabal says "this has only been ranged combat lessons thus far correct?"
You say "Ok. Lets pretend, through some freak of nature, that Popper got 2 12's on his attack test."
You say "Yes. Melee is only slightly different."

Cabal nods.
You say "Ok. The target gets to roll dodge. He rolls 3 CP vs what TN?"
Mira says "14."
Mira says "er no"
You say "Nope"
Mira says "6"
You say "Bingo"
You say "Lets assume he rolls 1 dodge success"
You say "Now, what is the attack damage, assuming standard rounds?"
Mira says "14D."
You say "Ok. For basic NPCs, 5/3 armour is easy to get (armoured jacket), thats what I usually give my basic NPCs. Whats the TN for damage resisting?"
Mira says "9."
You say "Right"
You say "He rolls body of 4 and the rest of his Combat Pool (5) and gets 2 successes."
You say "How many net successes are there?"
Mira says "None."
You say "dont forget the dodge"
Mira says "That counts too?"
You say "Sure does."
Cabal says "yea"
Mira says "I thought you either dodged or you didn't. So there's one on the defender's side."
You say "Yeah, you either dodge or not, but the successes add to your damage resistance roll."
You say "So yeah, in this case, the defender gets 1 net success. What damage does he take?"
Mira says "er...14D?"
Cabal always thought that partial dodges means you turned your body just enough to take the bullet more so with your armor, or at a better angle to resist with, hence it carrig over to resistance tests (but that's my way of thinking, but sometimes im wrong)
Mira says "Ack, just D."
You say "Yup"
You say "Basically, Cabal"
You say "the important thing to remember is they take away from attackers successes."
You say "Ok, Mira, whats the damage taken by our NPC if he had rolled 2 successes on the dodge test?"
Mira says "S."
You say "And if he had rolled 3 ont he dodge?"

Mira says "Dodges the bullet."
You say "Have another cookie."
You say "You've just learnt ranged combat. Thats it."
Mira says "Woo!"
You say "Melee combat is almost exactly the same, except instead of dodging, you roll your melee combat skill against a TN set by the table on pg 123."
You say "Except, there is one major difference in melee combat vs ranged combat"
You say "You work out the net successes before the damage resistance test, instead of after, like in range, and stage twice (before, and after the damage resistance test)"
You say "So. Galgeron attacks Pearce, and has a reach of 1. Pearce has a reach of 0. Whats the TN for Galgeron and Pearce's combat rolls?"
You say "Melle has a base of 4."
Mira says "3 or 5?"
You say "Both are right, but who has 3, and who has 5?"
Mira says "Well I thought you could choose to have your reach give you a bonus, or impose a penalty on the other guy."
Mira says "You'd have 5, and Galg would have 3."
You say "No, it affects both"
You say "Oh, wait"
Cabal says "attacker chooses which way to apply the penalty"
You say "Slap me down and call me susie, i'm wrong."
Cabal says "-1 for himself, or a +1 for you."
You say "you're right, Cabal and Mira."
You say "Ok, so lets say Galg takes it at 3, and Pearce's TN is 4."
Cabal nods.
You say "Galgeron rolls 7 successes, Pearce 4, Galgeron as a base attack of (Strength)M, and his Str is 12."
You say "Pearce has 3 impact armour. Whats the attack Pearce is resisting against, after armour?"
Mira says "9?"
You say "9-?"
You say "Whats the damage level?"
Mira says "Bah, I'm trying to say goodbye to Jaguar."
You say "Sorry :)"
Mira says "grr, would it be 9S?"
You say "Right!"

You say "Now, unlike ranged, staging doesnt stop at D in melee. For every two extra successes above D, you add +1 to power."
You say "So, if Pearce rolled 4, and Galgeron rolled 11, what would the attack be, after armour, that PEarce has to resist?"
Cabal says "question..."
You say "Sure, Cabal"
Cabal says "in ranged. it does go past D right? as in D+1 D+2 D+3 boxes and so on right?"
Mira says "10D?"
You say "Bingo."
You say "And then Pearce rolls body + CP vs 10."
You say "Ok. And thats all there is to melee combat."
Mira says "So no dodge test in melee, just opposed skill combat."
You say "There is a 'full dodge' option"
Cabal says "manuver you mean?"
Cabal says "or is it one of the combat options?"
You say "No this is a base option in SR3"
Cabal says "ah"
Mira says "whats that?"
You say "Under melee, if the defender rolls more successes than the attacker, the defender can actually hurt hte attacker."
You say "Alternatively, the defender can elect to go full dodge."
Mira boggles.
You say "It works the same as bullet dodging, you need 1 more success than they got to get out of the way"
You say "The only difference is, you dont roll combat pool, you roll skill vs the melee TN first"
You say "Then you roll combat pool vs TN 4"
Mira says "Oi."
You say "Full defense doesnt come up often :)"
You say "So, you understand the difference between ranged and melee combat, rules-wise?"
Mira says "So lets say Pearce attacks Galgeron, and Galgeron rolls 7 against Pearce's 4. Galg does the above damage to Pearce in that round?"
You say "Yeah, Galg slaps Pearce down for 12S before armour."
Mira says "Got it."
You say "Thats why Pearce stands way over there and shoots Galgeron :)"
Mira says "But if Galg felt sorry for him, he could use full defense and Pearce stumbles on through."
Cabal flexes.
You say "right, he can choose full defense to not hit Pearce."
Mira nods.
You say "And thats combat. Style maneuvers and options modify the power or TN generally, it all follows the basic rules though."

You say "For isntance, ground fighting eliminates the 'prone' penalty, and close combat eliminates reach at the sacrifice of power."
You say "But its all teh same type of tests."

Mira nods.
Mira says "Hey, backing up, if I had an Ares Alpha, would I only need -6 Recoil comp?"
You say "No, recoil is the same for all rifles"
You say "The ares alpha comes with more recoil comp than normal rifles, is all."
Mira says "I mean if I want to fire FA with no recoil."
You say "I'm not sure i understand the question. If you fire 6 bullets, as long as you have 6 points of recoil comp, it doesnt matter what rifle you fire it from."
You say "Its just you can fit more compenation into the Ares Alpha than the other rifles."
Mira hrms, having -2 from the Alpha's special chamber, two foot anchors for another -2, Custom Grip..."I'm trying to see if I can fit a Sound Supressor on it. But it doesn't seem like that'll happen.
Mira says "The Grenade Launcher negates the possiblity of an underbarrel weight."
You say "Is it mounted?"
Mira says "On a Gyro? No."
You say "Use shock pads, thats -1 as well."
Mira says "Oh yeah! I have those."
You say "And strength gives recoil compensation"
Mira woots and can put a Supressor on it now.
You say "Most likely its a comp of 1 for your strength, unless its over 11 or something."
Mira says "It's only 5."
You say "alright. Question for you."
Mira says "Sure."
You say "If I have no recoil compenstation at all, a smartlink, and fire at a close range target with two single bullets, what are my TNs?"
Mira says "You mean like SA?"
You say "Yeah"
Cabal has a question about that after this one gets answered.
Mira says "It'd be....3."
You say "For both?"
Mira says "er 2 for the first, 3 for the second."
Mira says "if its well lit and whatnot."
You say "Exactly right. Recoil adds up in the same turn. So if I fired a 3 round burst, the first burst has +3 recoil, but the second has +6."
Mira says "That counts even during different passes?"
You say "Nope. Just on that phase"
Mira says "Got it."
Cabal says "about that... Lets say Pearce had 24 init. so he gets three passes. He shoots that pistol twice per pass. so 6 shots. By the third pass he has a tn +5?"
You say "Nope"
You say "He has +1 recoil on each secon shot for those three goes."
You say "So basically, each pass, reset recoil. Each round, reset pools."
Cabal says "book doesn't mentio if it carries over or not, is why i asked"
Mira says "What about 2 weapons?"
Mira says "How does Ambidex fit in?"
Cabal can answer this one he thinks!
You say "Sure, give it a shot Cabal."
Mira laughs and realizes this sounds like one of those silly tutorials in a video game.
You say "It is a bit like that, yeah :)"
2 Ambidex = +2 tn first gun +2 Tn second gun 
 4 Ambidex = +2 tn first gun +2 tn second gun 
 6 ambidex = +1 tn +2 tn 
 8 ambidex = 0tn +1 tn and 0 mod for second target 
 10 ambidex = 0 tn 0 tn

Cabal says "i think"
Cabal says "range 2-4 ambidex is good for melee, higher is needed for guns"

Mira says "How is it people can fire off four shots from two SA guns per turn?"
Cabal says "because both shots = simple action"
Mira says "Ah."
You say "Ok. Here's how two handed firearms work"
Mira says "Is Cabal right though?"
You say "Yeah, its only a simple action to fire both at once."
Mira is taking notes and will just C&P that.

Cabal says "i think i was right on that by the way i read the hr's on it here"
Pearce nods.
You say "Its listed at +hr combat offhand"
Mira says "Okay."
You say "When you're using two weapons, you get two tests (one for each) and both get +2 to TN"
You say "the +2 is negated by the ambi skill here. Also, unless you have a fire control SPU and two induction pads, you cant use smartlink with either weapon."
Mira says "Which we call the John Woo Chip."
You say "yeah"
Mira says "...Fire Control SPU sounds much cooler."
You say "so if you dual-wielded pistols and fired twice with each, you'd have to roll pistols 4 times, at +2 each time."
Mira nods.
Cabal says "hurm.. question.."
You say "Also, recoil counts for both weapons. So if you had no recoil comp, you'd be at +1 on the second shot for both weapons, which ads to +2. But if you had 1 recoil comp on eahc pistol, you'd not suffer any recoil penalty on teh second shot, because all recoil is compensated."
You say "Sure, Cabal"
Cabal says "The john woo, doesn't really remove the penalty for the dual guns. it just allows you to have the smartlink -2s on it. So your TN is 4. But if you had 10 ambidex + johnwoo your TN for both hands is 2"
You say "Assuming no otheer mods, yes."
Cabal nods and was double checking.
Mira says "So say I had two guns and fire four times. It'd be +2, +4, +6, and +8 without ambi?"
You say "Nope, First shots would be +2 on each test, second would be +4 on each test. So +2, +2, +4 , +4."
Mira says "Oh."
Cabal says "Recoil for dual guns affect both guns"
You say "Right, but only uncompensated recoil"
Mira nods.
Cabal says "right"
You say "Also, since you're firing at the same time, you dont add it. So, firing two SA weapons at once isnt the same as firing two bullets from the same gun as far as recoil is concerned."
Cabal says "i'm pretty sure it is"
Cabal double checks the book.
You say "Its uncompensated recoil. Since there is no recoil on the firt SA shot, there is no recoil on the first two tests."
Cabal says "ah right ok , yea my mistake."
Cabal says "If you still got your Accordo bit, will you post up a chart of the ambidex tn mods to gunfire? i'm not sure if some people are applying it correctly to themselves or not, and having a handy chart to refer too is nice"
Pearce could probably do that, yeah
You say "I'd have to double check it to not look like an idiot"
Cabal nods.
Mira says "So whats next?"
Cabal says "Gm a mock up battle?"
Mira says "Ick, no."
Mira says "I meant like are we moving on to magic or what."
Mira says "Unless we are getting karma for this :P"

Mira says "Hope you're having fun."
You say "Magic"
You say "Magic is very dependent on the spell, but its generally a success test"
You say "The TN is set by the spell. Sometimes its an arbitrary number, like 4, sometimes its person dependent, like Willpower."
You say "Each time you cast a spell, you also need to roll for drain. Drain is resisted by willpower, and its base power is 1/2 the force of the spell, rounded down."
You say "The target generally always gets to resist. If it targets willpower, its resisted by willpower. If its an elemental manipulation, its usually resiusted by body. If its illusion, its intel."
You say "The difference between magic and ranged combat though, is if you resist enough to drop the mage's successes to zero, the spell has no effect."
Mira nods.
You say "The TN to resist is always force"
You say "A few thigns to keep in mind with combat and magic."
You say "Cover and lighting affects the TNs. Illuminate your target while staying in the dark. Put lights in their eyes. Etc etc."
You say "Cover under CC is different to SR3. It can add +2, +4 or +6 to hit. But if you're hiding behind cover, you get hald the cover penalty aginst YOU."
Mira boggles.
You say "So if I'm hiding behind +6 cover, its +3 for me to shoot someone else, ontop of everything else"
Cabal says "two opponents in +6 cover = alot of missing"
You say "Finally, its the players job to know their PCs, not yours. If they forget to inform you about special bonuses because they have whatever, then its not your fault, its theirs. As a player, you usually cant see each other's sheets."
Mira nods
You say "Any questions?"
Cabal says "I got one"
You say "Dont be shy"
Mira says "Where are lighting mods for magic found? Same as ranged?"
Cabal says "yea same as ranged"
Cabal says "AOE magic. how the hell does that work?"
Cabal says "do you roll the spell individually for each target in the area? do you roll the resist for each target? If it fails on one does it still affect everything else"
You say "AOE magic?"
Mira says "Area of Effect."
You say "oh!"
You say "Well its a little compicated. The caster should only roll ocne, though."
You say "The TN, though, will be different for each person in the AOE."
Mira says "I know that if a mage uses shielding or spell defense pool for someone else, it only helps that one person. Everyone else is cooked."
Pearce nods
You say "Lets say that 3 people are going to be hit by a force 6 Stunball"
You say "the first guy is in the open. The second guy is behind +2 cover, the last guy is behind +4 cover. Lighting penalty is +2. Willpowers are 3, 4 , 4 respectively."
You say "The mage rolls 6 sorcery + 6 spell pool."
<> Pearce (#5371) rolls 12:
     1 1 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 9 10 14
Mira says "Didn't you forget to add in the +2 lighting?"
You say "Nope, thats in there"
Mira says "er...oh right"
You say "Do you see it, Mira?"
Mira says "Yeah, I thought the first guy had cover."
You say "Good question, cabal. Personally I would reroll anythign under 5."
You say "thats a grey 'GM discretion' area i think, no hard rule"
You say "Another tip, when GMing, talk out the TN in OOC. That way players know where you're getting the numbers from and they dont spaz out as much"
Cabal nods.
You say "Oh! And one last thing while i remember. When in melee, lighting mods are halved."
Mira says "What about grenades?"
You say "Grenades work like ranged combat, with a couple exceptions"
You say "1 - Grenades have scatter (118, 119 SR3)"
You say "2 - Grenades do not explode until phase 1 - last thing to happen in the round."
Mira says "Does that apply to minigrenades?"
You say "Yup, if you look at the table on pg 119 it lists scatter, too."
You say "It may be different if you have air timed grenades, not sure. It drops scatter substantially but it still might detonate on phase 1"
Mira says "Hrm, okay. So grenades don't go off right away, even minigrenades."
Cabal says "Airtimed grendes can blow up at any moment you set them to, So they don't always have to go off at phase 1."
Cabal says "and i'm 95percent sure on that"
Mira says "I thought minigrenades reduced scatter to 1 when combined with a range finder because they sail through the air then blow up next to the person."
Mira says "Instead of landing and bouncing."
Pearce nods and would have to look it up
You say "Thats what airtimed grenades do, Mira"
Mira says "Yeah."
You say "I think you combine a range finder, grenade link and air timed grenades for no scatter bundles of death"
Mira has some concussion and Offensive HE minigrenades on her alt's Alpha. With Grenade Link.
Mira says "No scatter?"
Cabal says "enough succs = no scatter"
You say "Or 1. Not sure, dont use them"
Mira says "I'll have to go read up on that."
Mira says "Pages 118 and 119."
You say "But yes, scatter is reduced by successes"
You say "you'll probably have to look up CC for grenade link data"
Cabal says "right so on a 1d6 meters. and you have 7 succs you get 0 scatter"
Mira says "I've always been told it radically alters the guards' mindsets when they see you didn't just blow Charlie into a billion pieces. You just knocked him out."
You say "Everyone know what chunky salsa is?"
Mira says "Is it a combat expression?"
Mira says "If so, no."
You say "Yeah."
You say "Its when a grenade explodes in a small space"
You say "The explosion reverbs off walls and such."
Cabal says "its fun and tasty, great fun in hallway parties"
Mira says "Ick, blast in a confined space. Explain that."
You say "Its best illustrated in the diagram on 119"
You say "GMing tip. If you drop a grenade into a lift, everyone in it will die. If not from the blast, from the fall as you blow the lift to pieces."

Mira says "Oi."
Cabal says "Some people can survive both... which is cool and scary if you think about it"
You say "A hallway is usually 2-3 m wide, an elevator 3m wide on average."
You say "Walls are probably barrier rating 5 or 6, so you wont need to worry past the first reverb before the walls fall down."
You say "Barrier ratings for walls/doors/floors are doubled against explosives, remember that."
Mira says "What about collapsing ceiling?"
You say "All possible"
Mira says "Sheesh."
You say "Floors and ceilings are gm discretion, chunky salsa only works horizontally for damage"
You say "But large explosions inside rickety buildings is not good. Use concussion or defensive ;)"
You say "Or white Phos, if you dont mind burning down the house."
Mira says "That'd be kind of funny if someone fired off a grenade on the second story of a shoddy building and created a pit the guards couldn't get past."
Mira says "Why concussion and defensive?"
You say "Well concussion wont knock down walls i think (stun), and defensive loses power over distance quickly."
Mira hrms and nods.
You say "Everyone know how to work out attacks against vehicles?"
Cabal says "Concussion can knockdown walls, but at least it wont kill you"
Mira says "Not really."
Cabal says "concs are flameless explosions"
You say "Ok. When attacking a vehicle, unless its Anti-Vehicular munitions, you reduce power by one hald (round down) and Damage level by 1"
You say "9M does 4L against a car"
Mira nods.
You say "Now, if the car has armour, take that from the modified power. If the result is 0, no matter how many bullets you shoot, you wont hurt the vehicle."
Cabal says "bouncy bullets"
Cabal says "and you can't deal stun damage to vheicals."
Mira says "Good target practice."
You say "So if I shoot a car with my pred 3 (9M), if it has 3 vehicle armour, it does 2L (cant have a TN lower than 2). If it has 4, i cant hurt it."
Mira says "Hmm."
You say "If i have an ares alpha (8M) and fire 6 rounds, a car that has 3 armour resists 3L, a car with 4 armour takes no damage."
You say "7L, i mean, not 3L"
Mira nods.
You say "Everyone understand how I got 7L?"
You say "Argh!"
You say "Someone slap me"
You say "7S it should be"
Mira laughs.
You say "Serves me right for not talking it out."

You say "8M goes to 4L, 3 armour reduces it to 1L. 6 rounds -> +6 power, +2 levels = 7S"
You say "Thanks, Cabbie."
Cabal says "no problemo, and its Cabal. not cabbie"
You say "any further questions or are me all ruled out?"
Mira always just says 'Cable' in her mind.
Mira sees the charrie as Cable too :P
You say "So if you TS'ed cabal, would it be 'Layin' Cable'?"
Mira says "Er, one last question"
Cabal laughs.
You say "Shoot"
Mira says "Do cybernetic battletacs need a rating 6 radio?"
You say "The quick answer is, "fucked if i know""
You say "The long answer is "I'll look it up sometime""
Mira will look it up.
You say "I only have CC on pdf, so my CC specific knowledge is subpar"
Mira says "Was just wondering if you knew off hand."
You say "As acrobat has a fit with scanned books"
You say "no, sorry, not that smart."
Mira says "I know that external battletacs require a Rating 6 or higher communications device."
You say "After a while, you get used to using the core rules, and timestops become quick. Infact, what slows me down is gettig the players in my timestops to respond fast enough"
Mira happens to have like six rating 6 TacComs and BattleTacs. And two Master units.
You say "I wouldnt know. It might list it in M&M since its cyber"
Mira says "Yep."
Mira says "I said I'll look it up."
You say "Cool"
Mira says "But thanks for the tutorial, it really helped."
You say "Glad it did."
Cabal says "cleared up a few points i was confused on"
You say "Gotta practise it though :)"
Cabal says "I'm glad i gatecrashed"
Mira took lots of notes.

    Source: geocities.com/xallen2002