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Posted by: Bull Mar 17 2010, 12:19 AM

Hey guys, just a quick note for everyone. As of this afternoon, I'm the new Coordinator for the Missions Campaign, at least for a while (I'm on a 30 day Trial Period to see how well I handle it ).

Mission 08 - Firestorm is being worked on and had some last minute problems that popped up and are being fixed, and hopefully Bishop (Stephen McQuillan, who's still in charge of eBook releases) will have more information on when that will be available soon.

I'm still getting a handle on things and figuring out where we're at, what I'm doing, and more importantly, where we're going in the future. So once I get that nailed down, I'll pass it along to you guys and gals.

And as I'm sure most of you have read, there are lots of rumors going around. For the time being, they're not my concern and I'm plugging away and moving forward. We'll deal with any of that if the time comes for it.

Bull

Posted by: DWC Mar 17 2010, 01:15 AM

Thanks for volunteering to help keep things going.

Posted by: Black Jack Rackham Mar 17 2010, 02:43 AM

All Hail our new Cuddly Fuzzy Ork Decker Overlord!
Mark

Posted by: Casazil Mar 17 2010, 03:50 AM

No offence towards you Bull but................ here we go again yet another person to run Missions .

Like I said nothing towards Bull I guess all I can say is it can't get worse (I hope) than what has been happening.

Oh well guess time will tell.

Posted by: Aaron Mar 17 2010, 04:01 AM

If you want to blame anybody, blame it on me. I'm at the point where I can either write my own stuff or edit Missions, and for various reasons I'm going with writing.

Anyway, Bull's still got Stephen's and my support, and we've hopefully got some standardized procedures in place to make things a bit easier on him. Besides, the man's brilliant, and he completely understands what makes Missions so awesome, so I'm not worried.

Posted by: Casazil Mar 17 2010, 05:06 AM

well that is something I guess that both you and Stephen are still going to be involved with Missions hopefully that will allow things toget going again soon.

Now the issue is this thing with the company and the missing money.

Posted by: LurkerOutThere Mar 17 2010, 05:50 AM

Thanks for your work Aaron and the efforts you have made. I pledge my full support behind Bull this campaign has too much awesome to be left for dead.

Posted by: DireRadiant Mar 17 2010, 01:48 PM

Yes!

Now I don't have to run a missions table with Bull as a player!

Posted by: Bull Mar 17 2010, 01:53 PM

Says who? Wait a minute...

Oh, I know... For a four hour block at Gen Con, I'll resign as coordinator. Then, I'll take the job again afterwards!

Hah!

Posted by: Bull Mar 17 2010, 01:58 PM

@Casazil: Oh, it could definitely get worse. I'm hoping to avoid that, however

My goal is simple. I like having fun. I want other people to have fun. I want other people to be having fun on a regular basis.

@Aaron: Now, now, don't lie to the kids. Telling them things like I'm creative and stuff. YOu're just going to get their hopes up before I crush them like... Oh. RIght. I see what you're doing. Niiiice set up! >:)

@Everyone else: Thanks, I'm trying to get my feet under me and figure out what I'm doing, but... Well, see above. Having fun with SHadowrun, that's my motto

Bull

Posted by: Casazil Mar 18 2010, 04:12 AM

No offence to DireRadiant but should I go to Gencon (it is a good distance from me) and I'm there to run games I could care less who you are or what your job is Bull I'll run you or anyone else in a SRM game.

Only thing you can do is cheat cause you know what to do and as I tell people all the time your only cheating yourself I'll have fun running the mod anyways lol.

Posted by: Axl Mar 18 2010, 08:29 AM

Did the Bishop step down? May I ask why?

Posted by: DireRadiant Mar 18 2010, 02:27 PM

@Casazil psst, if you run a Mission table for Bull, no matter how much they insist on TR 6, make sure it's dialed to TR 11.

Posted by: Bull Mar 18 2010, 02:57 PM

Aaron stepped down to work on other projects, as he mentioned, and Stephen got promoted. He's now in charge of the eBooks line as a whole and is now a full time employee at CGL doing... Something. I'm not entirely sure, something to do with printing I think. Full Time Copyboy?

Bull

Posted by: Bull Mar 18 2010, 03:00 PM

Heh, I actually want to look at TR and how it effects things more, because yeah, I've yet to be really impressed with TR6

And Cas, if you ever do run for me, don't sweat it too much. At the very least, Rush isn't really the "Stop and think and make plans" type of guy. He's a very impulse driven Street Sammy who gets bored easy

Bull

Posted by: DireRadiant Mar 18 2010, 03:12 PM

I know the true secret of providing a challenge is getting the PCs to shoot each other. That worked last time.

Posted by: Casazil Mar 18 2010, 06:07 PM

well here are my thoughts a table of 5 to 7 can run a level 6 and usually do good at it even if the players aere new to the game.

it really comes down to the whole numbers things most of the time the PC's are better than the NPC's so 12 NPC's vs. 5 well built PC's the NPC's lose.

some missions are even run by long term players of the game and then there are what people refer to as the super groups like the atlanta one at dragoncon I ran them in one SRM they did their best not to break the mod but it required a little prodding from me.

I think there are 8 maybe 9 in that group when everyone is present they are a fun group to run and after all the years together are a well oiled group but they could take a level 6 SRM with an oppision of say 20 to 25 NPC's and win sure they might get hurt but they'd live. (it all depends on the die rolls they get)

So yeah the table ratings could maybe use some tweaking but then again I probally just made a good point for the retirement of long term characters which I'm against I like my guy and have no drive to stop playing him.

Anyway I am sure you will do well I'm sure there is lots to running the Missions campain but once you get your head wrapped around what you need to do I'm sure you can run it well.

and ya DireRadiant to quote a famous musician "But it goes to 11"

Posted by: Prime Mover Mar 18 2010, 11:39 PM

I've had a veteran group of 5 tear through a TR6 with little challenge. I've always understood that missions were for cons and new players but I for one would be more apt to buy if they were a bit more scalable without much work on my part. (Cause I'm lazy?)

Posted by: john_doe Mar 20 2010, 10:34 PM

Congrats and Good Luck.

I have a good feeling that if your work ethic towards the game is nearly half as much as your passion is, you'll do just fine.

Posted by: Blue DragonFly Mar 24 2010, 02:15 AM

When the PCs start shooting each other it really does get interesting. I still feel like I was set up!

Still love you guys though.

Posted by: unemployedsamurai Mar 29 2010, 06:52 PM

congrats Bull,

looking forward to this up coming con season with you at the helm, Arron has done a wonderful job these last few years, so you have some big shoes to fill, but then again you have large feet so it should be no problem,

as for TR, i find its not that big a factor so much as table cohesion, if the PCs at the table bicker and don't work together even a TR 1 can end poorly, but if all cylinders are firing at the table and the party is rockin' out, even a TR 6 should be a cake walk, yeah Karma and Loot/New Yen for everyone

Posted by: Axl Mar 29 2010, 07:02 PM

"there are what people refer to as the super groups" - Casazil

What are supergroups?

Posted by: Casazil Mar 29 2010, 09:26 PM

In Atlanta at Dragon*Con is a group of players they have played together in almost every Mission they play so well together that some refer to them as a super group.

They could more than likely run a Mission at TR6 in an hour or less if they didn't plan so well to get as close to the best result in the game.

I had fun running a game for them as has been said by other GM's a well formed group at a table makes for a good game vs. the table that bickers at each other.

Posted by: Bull Mar 29 2010, 11:51 PM

The group we put together at Gen Con last year for the Scramble would have likely been close to that, had Bishop not been a traitor and a plant

I've also seen over the years a few really, really good teams that won the Tournemants several years in a row, mainly because they were just really good groups. They were all good players, great roleplayers, and just a ton of fun to be around.

Bull

Posted by: Blue DragonFly Apr 2 2010, 04:47 AM

You're too kind Bull. This is the same group of people that split a 6 man team 5 ways... I miss some of those guys.

Posted by: BlueMax Apr 2 2010, 05:05 AM

Hi, my nickname is Broken Record,

Forget about the Super Groups.
Forget about the Big Conventions.
Forget complex, stick to mini


Make lots of Denver like Missions, get the out fast and regular and keep people all over playing Shadowrun.

SuperGroups can spawn their own Super DMs
The Big Cons are a tiny percentage of the target audience, as much and and much awesome as they may be.
The best mission had a series of small jobs inside it, now thats handy for new GMs

This message will repeat itself ad nauseum.

BlueMax

Posted by: Wasabi Apr 7 2010, 01:44 AM

I'm not a fan of the NYC Feel and miss the Pink Haired Gangers of Seattle although Denver wasn't bad I suppose. I'll repeat this Ad Nauseum as well.

Posted by: LurkerOutThere Apr 7 2010, 04:12 PM

I guess that's a case of how do you like your shadowrun as I love New York and disliked Denver's "This week you are broke scum working for slightly less broke scum" approach.

Posted by: TranKirsaKali Jun 14 2010, 09:55 PM

I miss Seattle as well. Denver was fun. NY a bit cumbersome.

As for calling some groups super groups, well I think the meaning is groups that play well together and have played for a long time together. So that they have a well oiled easy feel to them. Ones where people know their roles in the mission and can execute them with ease. I will admit I would like to feel a bit more of an adrenaline rush and sense of danger in the missions. We run table rating 6's as well and I don't remember them being a real issue.

Posted by: BlueMax Jun 14 2010, 10:00 PM

Yeah, my group is a "super group". We play Missions in 97 minutes, sometiems 120. However, we know that missions are designed for 6 random dudes and dudettes at a con. Thats a huge crippling factor right there.

In addition to missions, I would like to PAY for a second track of at home adventures.

BlueMax

Posted by: Bull Jun 14 2010, 10:15 PM

I'm hoping with Season 4 to atart adding some "filler" to the adventures... THis is mainly to help encourage the use of these in home groups, by adding in optional scenes, extra stuff to happen in core scenes, etc. These would all be optional, and not something necessary to the adventure. They wouldn;t be used in your average convention game, since they might push the adventure long, but for a home game (or a really well oiled convention group), it would be some extra mnaterial to help extend the adventure and make it a bit more robust.

It's a marketing thing, really, but one of my goals with Season 4 is to get people to see Missions as a viable home campaign as opposed to just "Those Convention adventures".

Bull

Posted by: TranKirsaKali Jun 21 2010, 08:10 PM

Marketing things are never a bad idea. Anything that helps to positively promote the game and gain us more quality players is a bonus.

Posted by: Mesh Jul 2 2010, 01:26 PM

BlueMax is on to something. We should definitely find some freelancers working on campaign launching modules to fill the need. (hard wink emoticon)

Mesh