I haven't put any of these into HL, partly because I haven't been bothered but also because I'm trying to keep HL relatively 'real' (until I find a way of turning off house rules aside from deleting the .user file).
However, I have lots of house rules:
1) Ammo is calibre specific not weapon category - a heavy pistol and SMG can swap ammo, an Assault Rifle and LMG can swap ammo, a Battle Rifle and MMG can swap ammo, and a HMG and Barrett Model 121 can share ammo. Some things aren't included but I rule on those as an when, usually based on fluff descriptions of ammo type etc.
2) White Phosphorous doesn't exist. Napalm doesn't exist. Reason being, sure we're shadowrunners and we'll gladly shoot someone in the face, but some weapons are designed to harm and NOT kill. None of those exist in my universe. Ever.
3) Reinforced weapon mounts only needed for truly heavy weapons. If something's man portable, a standard mount will hold it.
4) Can upgrade gear beyond +2, but cost is x10. Vehicle Sensor attributes don't suffer the cost increase (i.e. can go from 1 to 6 if you can justify it).
5) Immunity to Normal Weapons only counts as Force not 2*Force versus melee attacks by mundanes - on the astral, intent is power, so 'intending' to fight a spirit gives you benefits. Versus drones, no changes are applied (including Cyborgs).
6) Certain weapon and vehicle mods don't cost capacity (remove trigger for one, so long as it's a smart weapon).
7) AT rounds are -12 AP versus vehicles.
8) Penetrator ammunition (caseless and electronic firing required) - Ballistic armour = 0, DV + 4, vehicle armour *0.5, ignores Smart armour, DV is not increased by net hits versus vehicles of Body 8+. Minimum range 2m Availability - cost 200k for 10 rounds. Only available from one supplier, must have as contact of loyalty 5+
9) Turbo Penetrator ammo (gauss weapons and assault cannons) - same as Penetrator but all armour ratings = 0, range doubled, minimum range 10m.
A quick note on Penetrator/Turbo Penetrator - these are rocket assisted mass reactive projectiles. The reason for now allowing net hits to increase the DV is simple - sure you can shoot a 10mm gauss rifle at a MBT, but you'll over penetrate said MBT and leave a 10mm hole through it. Enough will kill it, but not especially quickly if you don't hit anything vital. And this goes double for warships - a 10mm hole is 30s work for a half trained seaman.
10) Military armour comes with Life Support 1 and insulation 6 as standard.
11) Dragging Mental Attributes - You must spend Karma on skills linked to mental attributes equal to twice the Karma cost of increasing said attribute in order to be allowed to increase a mental attribute. For example, let's say you want to increase your Logic and it'll cost X Karma to go to the next rating. In order to be allowed to do that you have to spend 2X Karma on Logic linked skills. Some specialisations and knowledge skills count against attributes they're not linked too (magical skills are always willpower). If you completely resist a spell based on a mental attribute then you may ask the GM for a bonus point - for example resisting an illusion spell or taking no damage from a Manabolt.
12) Any active sensor (Ultrasound, Radar etc.) can be set to passive mode, at which point they function as directional detectors.
13) Feed the GM - by bringing food for the GM, the universe smiles upon you. I almost never allow metagaming (thank god for tactical networks!!!), and 'the universe' is excessively harsh should it happen (auto critical glitches are common, if it happens). However, by feeding the GM you can gain a special benefit - once per game session, you may turn a critical glitch into a failure (not even a glitch), ignore -6 dice pool modifiers on one test, or gain a free use of Edge. You get one per session, not one of each.
This house rule came about from a dear friend of mine (who has since passed beyond to the great gaming store in the sky – and knowing him is correcting Gygax as we speak
D) who had a similar house rule - you collect food for the group (collect a pizza order prior to play starts, collect cash during breaks etc.) you gain a free '20'. We were playing D20 Modern and Earthdawn so you could either gain a D20 on a roll or claim a natural 20. Again once per game session.
14) There must always be a spare chair, in memory of departed friends.
15) Tick over Karma - should real life dare to intrude, a player's character doesn't have to suffer. For each adventure missed for RL reasons (being away at university was the reason this house rule started), you gain a third of the Karma award for that adventure, to a maximum of 5. The idea being group members don't have to miss out just because of major real life issues such as major system failures or university semesters. This 'tick over karma' is awarded to the PLAYER so they may split it amongst any characters they wish (see rule 16).
16) Multiple characters - even the most loved character gets stale from time to time. To that end, a player may have a stable of characters to play and will bring any one to the first session of an adventure. Changing out is not possible (except for character death) during an adventure. If you miss the first session, the group will decide which character you're playing and said character will be NPC'd for that one session.
It should be noted that I allow my players to GM in my game too, so I can play from time to time. I have a stable of 4 characters I use from time to time, however Canis (initiate cybered wolf combat shaman) is my primary character (in case you hadn't guessed)
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