Whats a new GM to do? Options

[Deamon_Knight]

Looks like to get my group to try SR, I'm going to have to run it. That's cool, I just don't have a whole lot of experience, so I'm turning to the Dumpshock experts for advice. What pitfalls should a new GM watch out for when running a Shadowrun campaign?

I'm going to run foodfight, then the rest of first run, so I think I have enough material to get my players introduced and see if they like the setting/system. I just don't want my inexperience to sour them on Shadowrun.

Rereading the rules I've got a few specific questions I'm trying to figure out.

SINs? Who has them, and why? More specifically, its implied in the Big Ds prez campaign that he had to get special dispensation from Congress to get a SIN and the accompanying full citizenship so he could run; and that the Awakened Races (Elves, Orcs, Dwarfs, and Trolls) don't get SINs without the same congressional approval (and Dunkelzahn's case is the only approval), they are just probationary citizens. Does this mean that there should be NO professional Orcs/Trolls/Elves/Dwarfs, because they can't get IDs, Licenses, Education, or any official status? This doesn't sound right to me but I can't seem to clear it up.

Looks like the cyber versions of Thermovision and Lowlight are the same price, but Thermo has the fewest vision penalties across the board, why doesn't everyone take thermovision cyberware instead of Lowlight?

More questions as I think of them, thanks!

[Critias]

SINS - think social security numbers. If you've got one, well, okay: you're a legal citizen, and the system can track you. That's a minus. On the plus side, you can vote (how much do Shadowrunner's care?), you can legally register a firearm, and the police aren't supposed to beat up on you quite as much. It's a toss-up, really. Most GMs assume the players haven't got SINs, and use fake ID's all the time -- that's the easy way to do it. Metahumans can get SINs just fine, it's always been my understanding that Dunkie's laws made it possible for OTHER intelligent metacreatures (Like Dunkie himself, or Sasquatches, or...unicorns? Or whatever) capable of being legal citizens. Elves, dwarves, etc, have pretty much always been capable of it.

Thermo/Lowlight -- just get both. You can use both at once, you pick the better of the two modifiers whenever using both at once, and you're a happy monkey. :) Generally I think people lean towards Low-light for purely OOC reasons; realistically, you can see detail better with Low-light (than with reading heat signatures), you can read with Low-light, for instance, see facial features, hand motions, whatever. There's no hard and fast rules for it that I'm aware of, but which just sounds easier for a human brain to adapt to -- needing less light to see, or seeing everything in heat colors?

[Oracle]

The SIN (System Identification Number) is the unique ID a country (or, for that matter, a corporation) assigns to each of its (official) citizens. I always compare it to the primary key in a database table named "citizen", which is linked to various other tables. But if one does not work with databases that is possibly not of much help. There is a special kind of SIN known as a Criminal SIN, which is automatically assigned to imprisoned criminals. This one is really a no-good, because everyone checking your SIN will treat you accordingly.

If you have no SIN you do not exist for the system. No social security at all, nearly no civil rights, many areas of a city are a no go for the SINless. Every SIN check a potential danger, and they do happen quite regularly to you, if you do not look right. But of course there is also a bright side. It is much harder for the system, especially for law enforcement, to track someone who is not a SINner. This is why nearly all Shadowrunners are SINless. They try to be ghosts in the systems, living in the shadows, responsible only to themselves and not to Big Brother. It gives them freedom, which is possibly only an illusion.

[SL James]

Thermographic vision doesn't beat out Low-Light in all fields, and with the Eyelight mod in Man & Machine Low-Light is better than non-natural themal vision at everything, and equals the natural thermo mod for full darkness. Plus, like Critias said, there is a RL distinction that isn't really acknowledged in the core book that you can do some thing using Low-Light (night-vision enhancers) such as reading text or looking through glass (glass is opaque in the IR part of the spectrum) that you can't do with IR sensor (which is what thermographic vision is) even though FLIR cameras can relay some pretty impressive physical details and you can see residual heat impressions, but both have their pluses and minuses. Likewise, some things are reflective low-light that aren't in IR, and some things are IR reflective but aren't in the visual spectrum (There's a whole discussion about the security applications of this little tidbit in State of the Art: 2063).

Dunk was a special exception because he was a non-metahuman sentient. Metas can have SINs, but there are a disproportionate number of them who do not, usually because they were born and raised in the Barrens or equivalent.

[Crusher Bob]

Also, he was neither born in the US nor resident when the constitution was adopted, making it difficult for him to run for president.

[Oracle]

I think his place of birth was no problem. President Schwarzenegger was born in Austria...

[Crusher Bob]

In addition, you need a SIN for anything you would sign a contract for today: renting or buying anything large, getting your utilities hooked up, opening a bank account, and so on.

Of course you can use fake IDs to do all this stuff or get someone with a real SIN (or just another fake ID) to 'front' many things for you..

[SL James]

[Oracle]

Dunki could simply tell that he is born in the USA. Who would dare to call a great dragon a liar? ;)

[tisoz]

[Oracle]

I am not talking about the real world. I am pretty sure that in some older sourcebook there was a list of UCAS and US presidents up to 205x. And his name was in it.

[Crusher Bob]

Think he's described as a senator, not president.

[Oracle]

Is he? I am not able to find it at the moment.

[Crusher Bob]

Paranormal Animals Of North America, iirc

[fistandantilus4....]

A few laws for being US pres, they have to be born in the US, and they can only serve two terms. If memory serves me, neither of those apply in the UCAS. Could be wrong though.

[Crusher Bob]

[RunnerPaul]

[tisoz]

The story with Big D was the government was wanting to get their hooks into the dragons hoard and income. Dunkie played the IRS, getting a legal SIN out of the deal. When what was left of the USA and Canada merged to form the UCAS, they adopted a clause similar to the one Crusher Bob cited about being a citizen at the time of the formation.

It just so happened Dunkelzahn now qualified for the presidency.

(And due to the rich having the best tax advisers and strategies, the IRS got piddly squat.)

[SL James]

Well, the grandfather clause is a little more open than that given the fact that Nadja Daviar isn't a natural born UCAS citizen, nor was a resident of either country when they merged.

[Critias]

You're forgetting sub-clause 943.5, addendum XVII -- Nipples, Dark Brown.

[tisoz]

[nick012000]

And I'm sure that Ryan Mercury would love to know that you lot are talking about the color of his lady's nipples. ;)

[Ed_209a]

I doubt he will care, since he won't be born for about 15 years.

[Clyde]

I've never played that Metahumans couldn't have SINs. Even if your elf or ork can't have a UCAS SIN they could still have one issued by the corporation they work for, Cascade Ork Tribe (which would probably sell them for a small fee, or offer it with parking validation) or Tir Tairngire (which wouldn't, but they like elves).

Also, check out criminal SINs.

As for thermographic, it works great. Until you need to read a street sign or that "emergency exit this way" sign or whatever. Low light's got its uses. Depending upon how you run it, Thermo wouldn't be much good for telling one person from another at any kind of distance either. All of which matters little when you're stomping corporate goons or whatever. Besides, picking out the "best" gear is part of the fun of SR - why shouldn't your players get to enjoy that? :)

[ShadowDragon8685]

Dark brown nipples, mmmm?

*licks lips.* Dark brown, always fine.... :) (Where did you come upon this information, Tisoz?)