Character Creation

Magic:

The rules for magic has not been changed, nor has the price. However, Mages are generally sought after by corps as magical security, and they can find lucrative jobs in several pop-culture industries- so you should have a good reason why your character has decided he wants to be a thief/assassin rather than a legit mage on the payroll.
Also keep in mind that magic loss is in the system as part of the balance between magic and mundane, and it could come up. The higher your magic rating, the higher your chance of magic loss.
See "group mage" below for the requirements to initiate with a group

Hacking:

I am adding Digital Stealth as a skill (INT)
Hacking will be somewhat simplified from the books, but not as simplified as we've used it sometimes.

Depending on the type of security, bypassing someone's security system will either be similar to detecting and avoiding traps (like a D&D rogue) or straight up doing combat with a security system.
TRAPS

Detecting the system would require a computers test.
Bypassing the system would require a digital stealth test. You get +4 to your TN to hide from a system you were unable to detect.
If you are caught by the system, you suffer the consequences. It almost always involves an alert that you were tampering and shutting you out of the system. Higher rating security systems might try to capture your information, or cause you real life damage.
This happens in the same "round" so tech pool dice are split between the two functions.
The "hardening" of your cyberdeck provides a level of resistance.

The security system's rating does combat with you. Digital stealth ranks is your TN to be hit. Your computers is your melee attack. The rating of the security system is it's TN to be hit, it's attack dice, and its damage rating.
Damage can be applied to you or to your cyberdeck (but not split). A cyberdeck can take a number of boxes of damage equal to its rating before it is fried and needs to be replaced, but it uses its rating as armor to decrease the damage. Damage must be repaired. Taking the damage yourself provides no armor bonus and is more risky.
Tech pool dice can be split between damage resistance and attack dice like combat pool.
Giving a deadly wound to a security system bypasses it and allows you to freely pass the system for the next 8 hours (after which is reboots). You get a -1 bonus to combat a specific system you've beaten before. Digital stealth is still needed to hide anything you're doing.

Availability:

Anything with availability of 8 or less can be purchased with starting money.
After we start, all gear requires the standard rolls to obtain.
You can have a contact that represents someone you know who has an "in" with a certain type of gear (electronics, cybernetics, drugs, survival, weapons, foci). For each level of the contact, (1-3) you can add one of the following modifiers:

Edges/Flaws

Day Job: Consider all aspects of day job to be a zero point edge. The hours worked offsets the income.
Group Mage: You belong to either a hermetic library or a shamanic lodge. The advantage is that you can initiate with a group. Group initiations are done on a monthly basis for those who are "ready", and it will be the same day every month. (Always the 1st for example) though the specific day can be chosen by the PC. (Note, last day of the month, or 2nd thursday is fine). Because you're involved with the lodge, you must dedicate at least 20 hours per week to the lodge (split evenly over at least 3 days- no 1 day 20 hour craziness). This time is spent on some kind of minor tasks, such as group rituals, cleaning, managing spells, training initiates, and social functions. You must also be ideologically compatible with the lodge. In some traditions, shadow running (or theft/espionage/murder) are looked down on, especially if the lodge itself could be put at risk. Without this edge, you would have to initiate on your own. Keep in mind that losing acess to a magical group risks magic loss.

Shadowrun