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Posted by: MDosantos Oct 20 2009, 04:12 AM

Hello everyone!!

I'm a new player to shadowrun, I've got the Shadowrun 4 20th Anniversary edition, I have little experience GameMastering, but so far I have been a player in Cyberpunk 2020, OWoD, NWoD, D20 Modern, Star Wars Revised and SAGA Editions, Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 and 4e, so I'm not new to RPGs.

Anyways I'm going to GM the game for 4 players who know nothing about it (rules-wise) I gave them the quickstart I found in shadowrun4.com and so far I've been reading the book (I'm halfway through "The Awakened World" chapter). So far I've found the rules a little bit complex, not too complex, but I can see myself referencing a lot on the books.

I don't know about the other players but so far there's going to be a hacker (not a technomancer) an a mage, possibly an adept too...

So what I'd like to know is:


1. What do you recommend for a group who's just starting to play.
2. Is there some sort of fanmade character generator (D&D 4e spoiled me).
3. Are there any cheat sheets I could use to get around the book referencing.
4. Any online or computer tool you'd recommend.
5. Should I be wary of any rules that might be problematic?


Thanks in advanced to everyone for your input, I'm really psyched about this game, gotta say I love the setting, any kind of help or input is welcome!

Posted by: Iduno Oct 20 2009, 04:29 AM

Welcome.

2. Check the community projects section of the forum, there are several there.
3. These are pretty useful: http://pavao.org/shadowrun/cheatsheets/

Posted by: Ayeohx Oct 20 2009, 04:46 AM

Welcome!

There is a wonderful spreadsheet character generator in the Community Projects section of the forums. I prefer the one DamienKnight is working on. Supersweet.

I don't know if Pavao's cheetsheets are updated for SR4A; I think they are still SR4 (old edition) and may have some different rules.

I recommend doing some rules practice before the game. Go over every concept and test them out. And don't mix your concepts at first. Do a ranged combat test, a melee test, a grenade test, direct combat spell test, indirect combat spell, spirit combat (this will make your samurai feel very mortal) and so on.

You may want to ditch hacking for now. It can be a huge pain in the butt. Especially drones. But if you're willing to do it... ask someone else for pointers; the Matrix scares me.

Remember that the mage is VERY powerful. Spirits have that whole immunity to normal weapons issue and good mages can summon a force 4-5 spirit easily.

Go very easy on the group at first. This game is very rough. Allow them to make changes to their characters later on to adjust for new revelations (what, that's how commlinks work! oh you guys need OS software!).

You guys will flub it a lot at first. Rules are going to be misinterpreted constantly. Don't stress it; just remember it for the next game.

Make sure everyone reads their section of the book. The mage needs to read the Awakened World. The hacker needs to know everything about hacking. No exceptions. Shadowrun is like 3 games all being ran simultaneously (physical world, the Matrix and magic) and they all have a boatload of rules for each. It's everyone's responsibility to get their portion down. If only to help you, the poor overtaxed GM, run the blasted game.

I think that once you guys get a dozen games completed you guys are going to love SR. You're going to have some hell along the way though...

Posted by: MDosantos Oct 21 2009, 03:50 PM

What's so hard about the matrix, so far from what I've read Technomancer are almost like Mages, and the matrix works kinda like the astral realm...

And what's the deal with Drones also, people seem to complain about them...

Posted by: Ayeohx Oct 21 2009, 09:46 PM

Then you win brother. My poor old brain can't muscle that much 4th edition into it at once. I've still got 1st, 2nd and 3rd kickin' around in there. I'm still thinking there's a way from defaulting off other skills occasionally... <sigh>

And drones can get crazy. I don't think they have recoil unless you use some alternate rules. Seriously, mount some big guns and go crazy. Then you can have swarms of the lil bastards. Between riggers with their drone armies and mages with their Spirit Swarms (okay, like 5 spirits, but you get the idea) the poor Adepts and Street Sams of the world can feel awefully useless and small. And once you start tracking 12+ different PC side entities and 20+ NPCs as well as all the crap that's going on in the Matrix and the Astral realm as well as the backup that's going to be arriving soon and the timing of... well, you get the picture.

But who knows, it may work out great for you. Maybe you are the "Chosen One".

Posted by: MDosantos Oct 22 2009, 01:36 AM

Hahahaha!! No I don't think I'm the chosen one... but maybe you're right, I only have this edition on my brain...

The spirits and drones thing, I don't think it will be an issue a the time 'cause all my players are new to the game... Anyways, do you have any advice to prevent that kind of behavior?? Any houserule or optional rule I've missed??

Posted by: Ayeohx Oct 22 2009, 03:57 AM

I'm not your man, still re-learning the 4th edition ropes myself. But a word of advice: A lot of folks will jump straight to houserules and options right away when there is a perfectly good way to solve the issue by using the game world as intended. For example, I'm worried about spirits being too powerful. Well so is everyone else now days so start using Stick n' Shock ammo and stun batons. Bypasses their armor I guess (still working that one out myself). Remember that drones are cheaper that security guards (2k nuyen a drone or 2k nuyen a month for a secguard). And drones aren't affected by a number of spells and they don't get tired.

Anyhow, the point is to think about ingame ways of solving issues. If you think drones are too powerful then I'm sure the cops think so too. Figure out what they would do. Same goes for mages and spirits.

Posted by: Cardul Oct 22 2009, 03:43 PM

This I have to agree with...Houserules are, unfortunately, a huge part of Dumpshock, so, unless someone gives you a book and page reference, take anything
people say about rules on here with a grain of salt...alot of people here are not playing SR4, SR4A, or, well, any SR edition..they are playing some mish-mashed
mess of so many house rules that, I expect, their house rule binders have multiple volumes, and take up more space then the SR4 corebooks...

House Rules are BAD!

Posted by: MDosantos Oct 22 2009, 10:47 PM

Well I'm not planning to use any, I was just asking to have an idea of what to do if the problem ever arises

As always thanks for the advice!!