In the shadows of the city, Runners move quickly, darting to accomplish their deeds - generally, the dirty work of megacorporations. Though they are well-armed and armored, there are places even these Runners fear to go....
The Downtown Militarized Zone is an 'alternate rules set' for Shadowrun: the Trading Card Game. It uses the same cards, but in different fashiosn; provides for different strategies in using the cards; and invokes a more miniatures/table-top wargames feel, rather than a collectible card game. The DMZ can be played with two to four players (or more!) and should take no longer than a normal SRTCG game.
Lay out the top sixteen cards face-down in a four-by-four pattern, as follows:
Player A
(safehouse)
_________________
|____|____|____|____|
|____|____|____|____|
|____|____|____|____|
|____|____|____|____|
(safehouse)
Player B
Each section or square is called a 'Block' regardless of what type of card is played on it. The four cards nearest a player are called "Player A's edge" and "Player B's edge", for obvious reasons. The entire region is called the Downtown Militarized Zone, or DMZ, or Zone.
And that's it -- you're rrready to rrrumble!
The safety phase follows a determined order; you may not skip any of these events.
Runner's abilities no longer count as Stingers -- their use is described in their own section (see below).
Locations, Contacts, and Objectives
Players who chose to draw cards from the Zone deck may put those cards into play on their action. The nuyen cost of the Contact or Location must be met; in the case of an Objective, players are required to spend an amount of nuyen of their choosing (minimum one). This amount may be used to effectively conceal the Objective by pretending its a Location
or Contact.
Zone cards must be placed in empty Blocks. If there are no empty Blocks, a player may start a new row or column along his edge, effectively increasing the DMZ's size. This row or column must be completed before a new row or column is created.
Gear
Gear may only be deployed on Runners in the safehouse, and only on a Runner who meets the requirements of that Gear. All nuyen costs must be met, and the Runner receiving Gear is turned as a result. (Any amount of Gear may be played on one Runner in the same action, however.)
You may trade Gear between Runners if they are present in the same Block or both are in the safehouse. Turn both Runners; any amount of Gear may be traded back and forth so long as the recipient is able to use the Gear.
Runners moving from the safehouse to the DMZ enter the Zone along any Block on a player's edge. A Runner may also exit the Zone from any edge Block. A Runner cannot enter an opposing player's safehouse.
Runners also turn to move from Block to Block. They may move horizontally or vertically, but not diagonally. A Runner who is moving may be attacked on either Block she is moving to or moving from; because she is in motion, there is a -1 modifier on the "to hit roll (see below).
No more than six Runners may be present on the same Block.
Ranged Attacks
Any Runner using a Ranged Weapon may attack a Runner in the same Block without fear of retaliation. Turn the attacking Runner and roll D6: On a 4+, the attack succeeds! The Runner inflicts damage equal to the Attack Bonus of the weapon *only* -- his own Attack Rating does not
factor in.
Indirect Fire Weapons may be used to attack a Runner in any adjacent block, but require a roll of 6+.
Melee Attacks
A Runner may attack any Runner in the same Block in hand-to-hand combat. Turn the attacking Runner and roll D6. On a 3+, he hits! The Runner inflicts damage equal to his own Attack Rating, plus any Hand-to-Hand Weapon of his choice. If the Runner is attacking an unturned Runner, however, the defending Runner may counterattack without turning. This counter-attack succeeds on a D6 roll of 6+.
In either Melee or Ranged attacks, a natural roll of 1 always misses and a natural roll of 6 always hits.
Gear
Runners may use Gear as described on the particular card during their player's action.
Locations and Contacts
If a player has Runners on a revealed Contact or Location, he or she may use its special effect, but only if there are no opponent Runners present. If a Block is in dispute, or has Event cards played on it, no player may use its ability.
Runners
Pay nuyen and turn Runners as indicated on the card to use their special ability. Some Runner's abilities (such as Domino's) are constant and do not need activation.
Special traits -- Biotech, Guard, and Recon, for instance -- only affect Runners or Zone cards the Runner is present in. All other special abilities, such as Archie McDeven's ability, only affect the Block the acting player's Runners are in or adjacent blocks. Cherry Bomb, for instance, may only blow up Locations next to her. Tempest, similarly, deals one damage to all Runners in his Block and all Blocks adjacent. (In these cases, 'adjacent' means any Block Runners could normally move to -- horizontally or vertically connected, but not diagonally.)
Challenges are revealed and sleazed in order from top to bottom. Players must encounter all Event cards played on the Block, even their own. Specials and Gear encounted in this way are considered bluffs and immediately trashed. If the exploring player reaches the Zone card and it is an Objective (and the player satisfies the requirements of it), the player scores the Reputation, any Bonus, and removes the Objective and returns the exploring team to his safehouse.
A Location or Contact revealed in this manner stays in play, and may be used by the player during the next action phase.
Winning Conditions: The game is won when one player reaches a pre-determined Reputation total (I find sixty to be about right.) Additionally, a player wins if he can kill all the opposing Runners.
Wounded Runners: Whenever a Runner in the Zone has his or her Body Rating reduced to zero, he or she is returned to the safehouse to be healed. Each time a Runner is trashed this way, he or she receives one Wound. Roll D6 each time a Runner is wounded; if the result is less than the number of wounds received so far, the Runner is removed from the game.
Trashing Blocks: When a Location or Contact is trashed, Runners present at that Block are 'caught in the blast' as well. Return them to the safehouse; they are not wounded as a result, however.
Runners on Objectives scored by an opposing player are treated in the same manner.
Teams: Runners may form stacks, or teams, that move and act together. Any number, from two to six, Runners can join the same team. Runners on the same side add their Attack Bonuses (or Attack Ratings, in hand to hand combat). Using a team of Runners requires a single action; turn all the Runners involved and resolve the effect as normal. Runners in the same team are always considered present to each other.
Card Wording: The list of errata because of differences between SRTCG and DMZ is incredibly long (and still growing). Several word substitutions will satisfy most of the problems:
Objective: Replace "objective" with "zone card". Recon allows a player to look at the Zone card; Lofwyr's Schemes will replace the zone card with one from the Zone Deck.
Shadowrun: Replace shadowrun with "exploration". All or Nothing, for example, means that an exploring team cannot voluntarily pull out; it must encounter all Events (even if there are more Events than Runners).
Safehouse: Replace "safehouse" with "safehouse OR block". The Bulldog Van increases the Armor Value of all Runners present in the safehouse (if its user is present there) or all Runners in the Block (if the user is present *there*). Similarly, the Time Bomb Challenge can be placed on any Block, or the safehouse, as the owner of the Challenge decides.
Supplies
Because of the number of cards being placed on top of each other, players may find it easier to determine the starting Zone and mark on graph paper the outlines of Contacts, Locations, and Objectives - preferably in pencil, as they may be changed through the course of the game. Similarly, Runners may be represented in the Zone by miniatures, and the actual cards kept to the side (with Gear placed on top of the cards, as appropriate).
More Than Two Players
If you have more than two players, you can add rows and columns to create a larger playing area. (I'd suggest and extra row and column for each extra player. With three players, the Zone would be five cards by five; each player would be able to deploy Runners into the center three
cards of their edge only.)
You may also want to try experimenting with alternate shapes, such as an "S" shape - with two players starting at the ends of each arm, and the third player in the middle.
Separate Decks
Instead of having both players draw from the same deck, each player constructs his own Events deck. The Four/One limit is still in effect.
The Incredible Growing Zone
After each turn, roll D6. On a 5+, the Downtown Militarized Zone grows either one new column or one new row. (This can be determined by rolling D6 twice: One the first result, a 1-3 adds a new column; a 4-6 adds a new row. The second die indicates which side it will be on.)
The Growing Zone adds a new dimension to tactics, as players can no longer rely on their players remaining close to the safehouse for an easy rescue when they get into danger.
Replacements
Players may opt to choose three extra Runners - the number should be the same for all players - they can bring in as replacements when Runners are wounded and removed from the game. These extra Runners are considered out of game until called upon. A player may decide to remove an unwounded or unkilled Runner, but may not return that Runner to the game later on.
No Cloning Zone
Instead of starting with eight Runners in the safehouse, each player reveals his Runners in groups of three-two-three. If any Runner revealed at the same time duplicates another -- even if it's in the same player's hand -- both Runners are removed from the game. This works great in large groups.
North American Brawl League
Rather than select eight Runners, players may impose a limit on spending. Forty nuyen is great for tough-buff teams, but you may want to start lower. After each game, roll D6 and add that to the starting amountb for the next game; the winner of the previous match earns a bonus of four nuyen as well.
Go For The Bench
Normally players may not enter each other's safehouses. This rule allows players to do so -- sending kamikaze waves can be a pretty intimidating tactic. Moving Runners must still turn as normal.
Salvage
When a Runner dies, his or her Gear is immediately trashed. However, you might want to allow the Gear to remain and be salvaged by other Runners. Roll D6 each time a Runner dies; if the amount is greater than the number of wounds on that Runner, then the Gear stays in play on that
Block. Any Runner who comes to that Block later may turn to rescue as many Gear cards as he can hold.
Hidden Caches
Gear and Specials played as Events on a Block are normally trashed when they show up in the course of an exploration. However, the exploring player can pay for the Gear found in this manner and deploy it on any member of the exploring team. If the exploring player passes up on an Objective, his opponents have the option of paying for it and immediately using it.
The River
The River runs through the middle of the DMZ, separating player's halves from each other. The River is one Block wide, and runs a wavy line, bisecting the Zone either horizontally or vertically. Two suggested layouts follow:
1 Player A 1 ___________________ 1 |____|____|____|____| 1 |____|____|_R__|__R_| 1 |_R__|_R__|____|____| 1 |____|____|____|____| 1 1 Player B 2 Player A 2 ___________________ 2 |____|____|_R__|____| 2 |____|____|_R__|____| 2 |____|_R__|____|____| 2 |____|_R__|____|____| 2 2 Player B
When the DMZ is "built up" by players deploying Contacts or Locations along the edges, the River is continued to the Blocks adjacent to it. Only Runners with Vehicles may cross the River. (Runners may still enter and exit the safehouse from the edges as usual). Events are played on the River as usual (or not, if players decide that way.) As usual, Runners turn and move onto adjacent Blocks.
Barriers
Players may have their Runners construct Barriers to prevent movement from one Block to another. The player must have Runners present on both sides of the Barrier (otherwise they build it wrong and it topples over). The player may turn any number of Runners; the Barrier has a Body Rating equal to the total Attack Value of the turned Runners. The Barrier prevents movement between the two affected Blocks, as well as Indirect Fire and special effects generated by Runners on the opposite side of the Barrier.
In the following depiction, Runners A and B build the barrier between themselves, represented by a double line (===)
____________ | | | A (5/3) | | | |===( 0/7)====| | | | B (2/4) | |____________ |
The Barrier comes into player at the end of the Action phase. Runners are vulnerable while constructing the Barrier. The barrier may be torn down by being attacked - treat it just like a Runner, except that attacks against it always succeed and it cannot counterattack. Barriers may be attacked by either combat or hand-to-hand attacks.
Landslides
Sometimes the rubble and debris that makes up the Zone caves in or shifts, moving the Runners to another ara. Each turn, randomly determine a Block that is affected by a landslide (this is best done by rolling two dice, one to determine the dolumn and the other the row).
For each Runner in that Block, roll D6 and consult the following chart:
2
^
|
1 <- 5,6 - > 3
|
v
4
On a 1, 2, 3, or 4, the Runner is moved in the direction indicated. On a 5 or 6, the Runner stays in the same Block, but takes 1 armor-piercing damage.
Landslides do not damage Locations, Contacts, Challenges, or Objectives. Any Barriers erected on the Block are immediately destroyed, however.
Skilled Runners
The skills possessed by Runners may help them out in certain situations. Consult the following chart:
Athletics: Runners with Athletics may move from one Block to another and still act. Their second action -- if any - must be undertaken immediately; a Runner may not move to a Block and then wait for an opponent Runner to turn before attacking, for example.
In addition, a Runner with Athletics may cross The River even if he or she does not have a Vehicle. If the Runner crosses into a River Block, he or she may not undertake a second action as described above (it's a lot of exertion, swimming.)
Demolitions: A Runner with Demolitions may turn to automatically destroy any Barrier.
Firearms/Gunnery: A Runner with Firearms or Gunnery may add one skill to their "to hit" roll. If the Runner is using a weapon that requires a certain skill level, however, their effective level is reduced. (Example: Domino, with Firearms-2, uses a FN HAR, which requires Firearms-1. She can only add +1 to her "to hit" roll.
A "to hit" roll still fails on a natural 1.
Leadership: A player may turn a Runner with Leadership during the safety phase to go first during the action phase. (If a second player turns his own Runner in response, the second player gets to go first -- though the first player may respond by turning another Runner as well.)
Melee: Melee may be used in the same manner as Firearms, above. Firearms/Gunnery only assists in ranged attacks; melee only helps in hand-to-hand combat.
Stealth: Runners with Stealth may not be attacked while moving. In addition, a Runner may turn to "sit quiet" and fade into the background. This Runner may not attack or be attacked, but is still affected by any Events, special abilities, or game effects that target the Block she is on.
Technical: A Runner with Technical automatically doubles his Attack Rating when determining the strength of a Barrier he is helping to construct.
© 1998 tin roses publishing | Some terms © 1998 FASA
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Shadowrun is a Registered Trademark of FASA Corporation. Original Shadowrun material © 1994 by FASA Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Used without permission. Any use of FASA Corporation's copyrighted material or trademarks in this file should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights or trademarks.