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Dumpshock Forums _ Shadowrun Missions _ Where to start?

Posted by: Argonnite Sep 6 2007, 07:08 PM

I have an opportunity to start scheduling regular Shadowrun Missions for my FLGS. Should I start them with Parliament of Thieves and maintain the sequence or drop them into a more recent mission? If I do the latter, can I later bring them back to the earlier missions to fill in the gaps?

Posted by: DireRadiant Sep 6 2007, 07:11 PM

For most of the missions the sequence is not important. Jumping back and forth won't be a problem. Given that, there are some missions where that particular mission is enhanced if the players have played the previous mission and encountered some of the NPC or factions previously.

There's a small subset, 2 or 3 I think, that make much more sense if played in a particular order, but I'd have to go do some research to check exactly which ones.

Posted by: Casazil Sep 6 2007, 07:12 PM

I started at the beginning some of my players had missed some at the beginning and those that did do them either keept quiet and played an alt or skipped that months game.

Posted by: Black Jack Rackham Sep 7 2007, 01:26 AM

I can tell you that 14, 21 and 23 are best played in order.

Mark

Posted by: the_dunner Sep 7 2007, 02:40 AM

Bah! Mark, stop hinting at things to come!

Also note -- that while what Mark said is true, that doesn't mean you need to play those three consecutively.

Quick summary of things that are odd out of order:

Try to play 1 & 3 before 8.

Try to play 6 before 10.

Try to play 5 before 17.

Try to play 7 before 15, and both of those (in addition to 14) before 21.

16 & 19 will both be better if you've already built up some faction with the different syndicates.

Don't try to play 24 or 25 as your first Missions. (Which'd be kind of silly anyways, since they're the end of the campaign.)

There are a LOT of other links between other adventures. However, those are the most important ones.

FWIW - the goal by the end of things is to have a 25 session, 100 hour campaign for folks to enjoy.

Posted by: DireRadiant Sep 7 2007, 06:57 PM

QUOTE (the_dunner)

FWIW - the goal by the end of things is to have a 25 session, 100 hour campaign for folks to enjoy.

We could almost fit all of that into one really long GenCon SR Missions event.

Posted by: TheDrake Sep 7 2007, 08:39 PM

QUOTE (DireRadiant)

We could almost fit all of that into one really long GenCon SR Missions event.

I just got a little woozy thinking about it.

Posted by: Argonnite Sep 7 2007, 10:44 PM

I'd be interested in attending that marathon.

Posted by: BishopMcQ Sep 7 2007, 10:52 PM

I'm going to remove my hat now, before anyone tries to even put me in there. Though I will be a backup GM... Wait, no that's just as bad.

Posted by: Fortune Sep 7 2007, 11:26 PM

QUOTE (BishopMcQ)

I'm going to remove my hat now, before anyone tries to even put me in there.

We could always tie you down and make you play. I warn you now, I've done it before.

Posted by: Aaron Sep 8 2007, 02:44 AM

QUOTE (DireRadiant)

We could almost fit all of that into one really long GenCon SR Missions event.

That's totally the kind of crazy I'd be into. Although I'd want to throw a Scramble in there, too.

Posted by: Argonnite Sep 8 2007, 06:11 AM

QUOTE (Aaron)

QUOTE (DireRadiant @ Sep 7 2007, 01:57 PM)

We could almost fit all of that into one really long GenCon SR Missions event.

That's totally the kind of crazy I'd be into. Although I'd want to throw a Scramble in there, too.

Now that I know Living Spycraft will no longer exist by next year's GenCon, I'm totally voting yes for this SRM mega-event to happen. Best way to go out with a bang.

Posted by: DireRadiant Sep 8 2007, 06:53 AM

Missions Marathon Event, generic tickets only, Missions 1 through 25, Campaign outcome and faction persisted by table position throughout event.

Generic tickets to make sure it's the event for our walk up crowd, our super demo. (I think this would be a hard even to set up as pre reg anyway)

Instead of walking away with mission sheet for each mission, it's left at the table for the next GM and player to deal with (Probably easier to have a set of template characters to pick from to play per table). So if you come play Mission 3, you deal with the faction and notoriety and outcome of missions 1 and 2. Killed an NPC in an earlier mission that comes back? Hey, Edge HoG works for NPCs as well!

We could stick a Large color map of Denver int he middle, and stack a pile of Missions folders, and off we go!

Posted by: Naysayer Sep 8 2007, 02:14 PM

What's the Guinness Record for "longest role-play campaign ever played in one go"?
And in case that's already taken, what's the record for "stupidiest (you know, the good stupid) role-playing campaign related plan ever executed during a convention"?

Go for Gold, kids!

Posted by: Alphastream Sep 11 2007, 05:51 PM

[QUOTE=Argonnite][QUOTE=Aaron,Sep 7 2007, 09:44 PM]
Now that I know Living Spycraft will no longer exist by next year's GenCon, I'm totally voting yes for this SRM mega-event to happen. Best way to go out with a bang.[/QUOTE]
I think you mean Living Greyhawk, which is ending next year just before Gencon.

Living Spycraft is alive and well and a whole lot of fun. It is not ending, though it is not part of the RPGA (nothing is anymore...).

Teos

Posted by: Alphastream Sep 11 2007, 05:53 PM

Back to the Missions, I will likely run one in Portland this week or the next.

Is the first one good from an introductory perspective? Or is there a better mission for players new to SR? (Or judges... it's been years since I played last).

Thanks!

Posted by: Argonnite Sep 11 2007, 06:03 PM

QUOTE (Alphastream)

Au contraire.

http://livingspycraft.com/x/news-list?id=1213&title=News

Posted by: Alphastream Sep 11 2007, 06:24 PM

QUOTE (Argonnite)

[QUOTE=Alphastream,Sep 11 2007, 12:51 PM] [QUOTE=Argonnite][QUOTE=Aaron,Sep 7 2007, 09:44 PM]
Now that I know Living Spycraft will no longer exist by next year's GenCon, I'm totally voting yes for this SRM mega-event to happen. Best way to go out with a bang.[/QUOTE]
I think you mean Living Greyhawk, which is ending next year just before Gencon.

Living Spycraft is alive and well and a whole lot of fun. It is not ending, though it is not part of the RPGA (nothing is anymore...).

Teos [/QUOTE]
Au contraire.

http://livingspycraft.com/x/news-list?id=1213&title=News

Wow, that's a huge shame. That was a lot of fun... guess they have to promote the rest of their product line...

*sigh*

Posted by: Alphastream Sep 13 2007, 09:33 PM

QUOTE (the_dunner)

Don't try to play 24 or 25 as your first Missions. (Which'd be kind of silly anyways, since they're the end of the campaign.)
[snip]
FWIW - the goal by the end of things is to have a 25 session, 100 hour campaign for folks to enjoy.

Ok, so Argonnite just brought this to my attention... the campaign ends at mission 25.

SR4 seems pretty young. What comes next? Is there a new living campaign, or is nothing else replacing it?

LG is canceled, LSpy is canceled, now SR Missions... seems like there are a lot of living gamers left (like me) looking for a good living campaign.

Hoping something new will replace it...

Teos

Posted by: Fortune Sep 13 2007, 09:47 PM

I am pretty sure that it is only that particular story arc that is coming to a close, and not the entire Shadowrun Missions program itself.

Posted by: Casazil Sep 13 2007, 10:32 PM

Casazil looks around hum nope don't see Dunner yet maybe he'll pop in and let us know what if anything is being thought up.

Posted by: BishopMcQ Sep 13 2007, 11:01 PM

Without violating anyone's confidence, I think I can say that yes, there will be a third Missions campaign. Missions 2 is ending the campaign after 2 years and 25 Missions. We have already begun planning Missions 3 which will be a separate story line from the current campaign.

Ask Dunner for more information than that.

Posted by: the_dunner Sep 14 2007, 12:29 AM

At this time, BishopMcQ has pretty much said everything I'm comfortable saying. We're working on the 3rd campaign now, but we're still in the early stages. It will be a separate story arc in a different city. One of the things we're currently working on is deciding how or if to transition characters between the story arcs.

Answering a couple of earlier questions:

-Parliament of Thieves was intended as an introduction to Shadowrun event as well as an introduction to the campaign. It should be a fairly safe bet for getting folks roped into the game system. (Though, Food Fight in the QSR is another terrific option that's now available.)

-I believe a team of gamers managed to set the record at Origins a few years ago for the longest running game. It was a charity event that ran 24 hours from sometime on Wednesday until late on Sunday. I'm sure it's over 100 hours, I'm just not sure how far over. Of course, that was a D&D game, I've no idea what the record is for Shadowrun. <grin> Off hand, I recall a few rounds of GenCon tournaments that went for at least 9, though I'm sure if we ask in the SR4 forum, somewhere a forum vet will pipe up that his home group played for at least 24 straight.

Posted by: Alphastream Sep 14 2007, 04:19 PM

Awesome. With LG and LSpy ending, I was thinking I was cursed and that any living campaign I liked would end.

Good stuff! Glad to hear that there will be new life for SR Missions. Honestly, I think a ton of people don't know about this living option (and with the death of LG, there are people looking for options).

Teos

Posted by: Aaron Sep 14 2007, 04:54 PM

QUOTE (Alphastream)

Honestly, I think a ton of people don't know about this living option (and with the death of LG, there are people looking for options).

Then spread the word. I've been working with persistent games in one form or another for over a decade (... so ... old ...), and it's been my experience that word-of-mouth is the best way to attract players. What I've observed is the more participants there are, the more impetus to serve those participants there is, the more awsome-filled it gets, the more people are attracted, lather, rinse, repeat.

To be fair, most of my experience has been with LARPs, but from what I've gathered in talking to folks in Living-style campaigns and what little I've done with Missions so far, this seems to be the case.

Posted by: Alphastream Sep 17 2007, 04:28 AM

QUOTE (Aaron)

QUOTE (Alphastream)

Honestly, I think a ton of people don't know about this living option (and with the death of LG, there are people looking for options).

Working on it!

Ran our first Portland table I've heard of this last week, and we will now be doing games every other week. Four of us, but we have something like 12 on the Yahoo group.

I will be volunteering as the Shadowrun Missions coordinator for the next Portland convention, so I hope that draws some attention!

Teos

Posted by: Argonnite Oct 4 2007, 07:28 AM

QUOTE (the_dunner)

No hints on a timetable?

Posted by: the_dunner Oct 4 2007, 11:34 AM

QUOTE (Argonnite)

No hints on a timetable?

I'd rather not make any commitments at this stage. Sorry!

Posted by: Alphastream Oct 5 2007, 05:22 PM

Probably a done deal, but I'll put in a vote for Hong Kong. With the latest sourcebook and how cool a city it is (on both my visits I couldn't help but remark how much like Shadowrun it already is...), it seems like a good choice.