Need Feedback on my idea... Options

[thegrymone]

Hello everyone, my name is Grymn....at least thats my online persona. I'm an old-school Shadowrun GM and player from the 2nd Edition days who is returning to the shadows after so many years. I must say, I absolutely love the 4th edition of SR. So much in fact that I plan on scrapping my current World of Darkness game in order to run an SR campaign. My players and I have just grown too disillusioned and unsatisfied with the Storyteller system and Shadowrun is the perfect fix for that. In fact, my players are going to be making their base WoD characters as shadowrunners and I plan on assimilating my current story into the shadowrun setting.

My concept is that the players are all patients in a private hospital of the Draconis Institute (think a combination of the Bureau of Paranormal Research from Hellboy and the Hoffman Institute from Dark Matter). They are suffering from a relatively new and rare psycological phenomenon called TRDS or Temporal Regression Syndrome. This is a concept I put together specifically for the change between setting and system using the same base characters. The shadowrun characters' minds have started to react to the mass stimulation and advancements of technology and such prevelant in the world of 2070 in such a way that their mind creates an alternate world that more resembles our own time as well as certain other dillusions. These delusions have them imagining they are awakened beings in 2005 Cleveland, OH USA. (A mage and two werewolves).

The insitute is especially interested in the PCs because of the patients they've treated for TRDS, these three are the only ones to have interacted with the same delusional world (even though they are strangers outside of the delusion). The Insitute plans on experimenting with this odd connection they seem to share in a shadowrunning capacity and see if it can be exploited. The characters will start with amnesia and only have memories of the delusions that they encountered their TRDS. The characters from the World of Darkness game (and thus their delusions) will be converted to NPCs and contacts. As my players are fairly competant RPers it should be a fun experience.

Feel free to post your own opinions, advice, suggestions, hate mail, etc etc. :)

[Geekkake]

Frankly, I don't think it meshes, but hey, if you can make it work, go for it.

On the WoD tip, I've given sporadic thought to porting a Mage-like system to magic for Shadowrun. I like it much better, despite the abuse possibilities (especially with what's considered "coincidental" in 2070). Any thoughts on that?

[Abbandon]

My thoughts how to instantly traverse one game into shadowrun...

#1. mental hospital is a good route and its very creative i like it. How did they get there? I think they would be captured runners or something and got turnedi nto test subjects.

#2. in 2060's the matrix crashed a second time and lots of people were in the matrix when it happened. What if these guys were in the matrix when it crashed. They have been in this other reality(wod) and on life support. Maybe they all worked for a corporation who hooked them up and have been monitoring how they have been interacting with the matrix leading to all kinds of new mind altering drugs or matrix programs. For whatever reason the pc's wake up and find out the corp has specifically kept them in a coma state or have been prolonging there condition and now they are anti corp and have to break out and then turn shadowrunner.

#3. Some kinda nasty monster captured these guys and have been feeding off their psychic energy or something and the other reality thing was just a dream they all shared because they were being eaten by the same monster. They finally come to because the monster moved on and left them there or they come to and have to fight just long enough to make a run for it. The evil monster should not be killed so that it can hunt and haunt them until they finally track it down and kill it with all their new shadowrunning skills. A vampire would be an appropiate monster.

#4. These guys were poor drug addicted slobs and they went to a corp asking for volunteers for this experimental drug. It kinda went wrong resulting in these guyshaving been in coma for a period of time. When they started to show signs of improvement they corp pilesem up in a truck and dumps them someplace before they fully come to or maybe give them injection after they dump them to make them wake up. The drug could have caused all kind of things to happen but one of the most important things it caused is a better understanding of combat and stuff. While they were imagining being real live people in the wod world they learned how to fight and think and stuff. Now when they are brought back to reality they are no longer poor drug addicted slobs they actually know how to fight and are more confident and can become shadowrunners.

[thegrymone]

Geekake, I mainly using the WoD stuff as background story elements..not necessary any of the mechanics. I may recreate some of the spells and such as SR material, though. The game will be fully Shadowrun and takes place as the Institute has managed to stabilize their minds into the "Real World".

As far as a Mage-like magic system in SR...hmm. That is an idea. Could be interesting as like an alternate type of advantage. Magic, Resonance, <Insert New Ability here for Mage-like spellcasters>. I think only minor adjustments would need to be made for the coincidental magics as most people in 2070 still haven't actually been in the presence of magic.

Abbandon, I'm thinking that the Draconis Institute is the lead researcher in the TRDS phenomenon and that the PCs are all from different locations around the world and are sent by family, friends, or corp for treatment. It just so happens that despite them being complete strangers and being far apart from each other..they mysteriously share the same delusion. The Institute heard about the cases individual and put the peices together and are trying to see what they can get out of it.

[Toptomcat]

The most plausible ways for a shared hallucination, as described here, to happen under Shadowrun mechanics:

1. Unconcious access to a metaplane that resembles 2006-era Earth. The characters are always astrally perceiving so strongly that it overcomes the impression of the 'real' world.
2. Wireless Simsense network between the three of them. (Give every player a free 'Mysterious Cyberware' flaw that they don't know about because of their Amnesia flaw.)

[thegrymone]