Newbies on their first run, what kind of runs have you used 4 nubies Options

[Mortax]

Okay, so I have a group of new runners about ready to go. As I'm plotting their demise...er.. I mean their first few runs, a question came to my mind.

When you first get a new group of runners (the characters or the players) what kind of runs do you have them do? B&E? Extraction? Wetwork?

My group is going to be 1 or 2 people have played, but most of them have never played before. Any sudgestions? Or just fun stories. :-)

[Kagetenshi]

Get a package from a pickup point to a dropoff point without being followed. The tail is interested in the final location, not the package itself.

Different groups take to it differently, but I've yet to see a group fail to have fun with it when run properly. It also gives a certain amount of insight into the players' approaches.

~J

[Jack Kain]

For my first shot as GMing, I'm planing on a simple B&E with a little twist, break into the building steal the package but at the same time instail a deviced designed to get the buildings wireless signal past the walls.

[fistandantilus4....]

Personally, I'd suggest something that can be done in one night, preferabbly with some legwork, and some NPC contacts. Tracking somethign down usually helps for that, because it's easy to incorporate a combat in to that as well.

My fav was the corp guy that hires the team to find his missing daughter , but is very unhelpful. He does it because he works for shiawase, but is caucasian. they're big on family, so when she goes missing, they help. The truth though is that he killed her because she was performing for online pron and he didn't want her to endanger his job. Leg work, possibel combat at the simsense studio where she performed (gamg or mob controlled of course). Possible matrix work, and a backstabbing Johnosn.

[krayola red]

Another option is to do a bodyguarding jig, where the players need to protect someone from someone else who's trying to capture, maim, or kill them. It'll ease them into the habit of thinking like shadowrunners and give you an opportunity to show them the kind of tactics real criminals would employ to get a job done.

[hyzmarca]

First runs should always include heavily armed and armored three-armed cyberzombies. Always.
B&E a secure facility, grab some paydata, and get chased by the cyberzombie on the way out.

[Fortune]

Shadowrun Missions can be a good source for a run or three. ;)

[Jack Kain]

[Shockwave_IIc]

[Blade]

I've got a simple B&E run which shows many aspects of the universe and allow the players to take many different courses of action.

It's described here

[Snow_Fox]

right, for that first go, B&E to steal something. That way they do a little leg work for some details and then have some stealth skills and if stuff goes south, combat without heavy work.

as a variation, hit a cargo on the road, a hijack requires leg work to find the target and will have more combat.

[nezumi]

[Wounded Ronin]

This is a subject I've thought a lot about. I finally wrote up a newbie run which I feel is the perfect campaign setting for new players.

http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?show...l=mullet+police

I'm sure that after you check it out you'll drop everything, emit a high pitched squealing noise, and run it right away for your players.

[Kagetenshi]

[Dog]

I've noticed that the general mode of though is: "What do I show the players?" Is there a "What can the players show me?" approach? Something really open ended? I've never tried it myself, but I wonder if anyone has. It might help GM's to know what sort of campaign to create for their new players.

[Kagetenshi]

Well, that's what my approach tries to get at. YMMV.

~J

[Dog]

True. What about some way for them to choose what sort of work they wanna do? Maybe the first "run" can be a night of meeting and greeting with contacts, finding out what jobs are available, seeing which ones they show interest in. Then throw a couple of "incidental" action encounters to keep it interesting.

[wargear]

One I like to throw in occasionally is to have another more professional team hire the pcs for a distraction run.

Pcs hit a site or act suspiciously in the wrong place and it pulls the heat away from the other teams real target.

Lots of potential for combat, chases, stealth, yadda...

[Lindt]

[Kyoto Kid]

...I usually like to use the aforementioned bodyguard scenario. I also try to tailor it to the theme of the upcoming campaign arc I am running if the group of players will be the ones participating in it. This way the characters become familiar with the setting and possibly some of the personalities involved.

I have also used an extraction now & then (the last of which actually finished the character backstory of one of my new NPCs).

[warrior_allanon]

it depends on how new the newbies are, if they are just new to SR, they get dropped in the pot wherever the rest of the team sits, the team usually protects them unless the players are extremely annoying, then the team tends to try to let the situations kill them. On the other hand, if they're totally new to gaming they get dropped into the group and usually get run through food fight.

[Dog]

The problem I've encountered is that inexperienced role-players, especially those that haven't read up on the background, tend to conclude that the whole game is variations on the first run. Intro is a bodyguarding job? They might think Shadowrunning is bodyguarding. Intro is a job against the Yakuza? They think that Shadowrunning is about fighting the Yakuza, and so on.

The world is just so damn big. How do you show them that Shadowrunners can be mercs, street thugs, scientists, primitive tribals, bodyguards, b and e experts, assassins, explorers, conspiracy theorists, orks, pacifists, religious fanatics, mafioso, and on and on and on... in one game?

[wargear]

[Wounded Ronin]

Food Fight is the best first mission ever, because in my experience it often results in a TPK. I always crack up when you read the text advising the GM that the team may lose if they're "outgunned" or something because that actually happens a lot.

I mean, what the hell. The scenario bends over backwards to make the PCs not carry very much weaponry but then it sics a full team of gangers with submachineguns on the team. And when you're dealing with people who have played other RPGs like D&D where characters soak attacks all the time with their hitpoints you just know that they'll be really shocked when they suddenly have to resist 9S damage twice because they just ate two bursts. It's like if your players aren't avid Rainbow Six or America's Army players who are all about cover, concealment, and strenuous efforts not to get hit at all in the first place, they are guaranteed to be blown away in a couple of combat turns.

[Wounded Ronin]

I've never thought about it this way before, but I suppose that Food Fight *could* be good if the GM were experienced and there were a couple of newbies mixed in with an experienced group. The experienced people could not get blown away right away and show the newbies how to act. The newbies might take a burst or something if they make a mistake but since there'd be experienced people to cover them or draw fire it's less likely they'd be blown away by a double burst after standing out in the open and mismanaging combat pool while trying to operate a light pistol.