ShadowDawn runs under a drastically variant version of [Exalted], though a great deal is derived from [Shadowrun] and [Earthdawn].  We used to use mechanics based on [GURPS].  Lots of nodes are labelled ExaltedHackingFoo — don't take those too seriously, but look for a node HouseRulesOnFoo instead.

The HouseRules have all been compiled into a more easily readable document at http://www.evenmere.org/~bts/Shadowdawn/Conversion-Notes.pdf

If you want to create a character, start with ConversionStartingPoint.  It gives advice focussed on those who had characters before we switched to these mechanics, but should be readily understandable anyway.  It wil likely point you at many of the following:

HouseRulesOnAbilities -- a few skills are treated differently.

HouseRulesOnRaces -- everybody needs to read this just to figure out what race they're playing and how to implement it.

HouseRulesOnCharms -- we've edited a good number of Charm Trees.  Check here before copying information to your character sheet.

HouseRulesOnDisciplines -- everybody in Camrish needs to read this, and you'll need to read this eventually for your Boston character as well.

HouseRulesOnDisciplineMagic -- only necessary if you're playing an Illusionist, Wizard, Nethermancer, or Elementalist.  You can ignore it if you're a non-Adept.

HouseRulesOnIntuitiveMagic -- only necessary if you're playing a Born Mage in Boston.  There are no Born Mages (yet) in Camrish.

HouseRulesOnEssencePools -- everybody needs to read this.

HouseRulesOnTaint -- you don't strictly need to read this, but your character's head may explode if you don't.

HouseRulesOnBackgrounds -- mostly we use the same ones as in Exalted, but there are some changes and a few new Backgrounds you probably want to read about when creating a character

HouseRulesOnEquipment -- Toys for your character, if you can't find what you want in Exalted or Trinity.

HouseRulesOnAdvancement -- shouldn't matter much until you want to buy more Essence.

HouseRulesOnQuestors -- Questors are partial avatars of powerful spirits of emotion.  They get some benefits for this, and usually much more sharp and twisted Plot.

HouseRulesOnDecking --  The party only has one Decker right now, but several people with datajacks who *could* go decking if they wanted.

HouseRulesOnHorrors -- some beginnings of Horror Charms.

A decent CharacterSheet -- we don't actually have one, and should.  I'd love it if somebody would implement a nice NSView character sheet for easy PDF conversion, but that would be too much to hope for, wouldn't it?

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RulesHacking (for those of us who can't quite resist, here's a convinent page to drop mechanic ideas off of.  If you're not a mechanics hacker, just don't go here.)

QuickReferences