How do you teach someone Shadowrun? Options

[Adam]

Hiya,

I'm starting this thread for a specific research purpose. I'd appreciate it if people explained their methodology for how they explain and teach Shadowrun to someone new to roleplaying [or at least new to Shadowrun]. I'm not looking so much for a back-and-forth discussion as to which method is "best", I just want everyone to infodump their chosen method, why they do it that way, and what other ways they've tried.

thanks!

[nathanross]

Ive found that the best way to teach/learn shadowrun is through example. If you have a group of experienced players, it makes it much easier for someone to give roleplay a try. After that it is just up to the imagination and reading the books.

[Hatspur]

I find it's best to create a character together from the ground up with recommendations from everyone across the table. This introduces people to basic game mechanics as they create their character. Most people I know find the character creation process so cool that they usually just let loose and we teach them the different formulas for calculating tests and by game 2 they start teaching the veterans a lesson or two. As a GM, I usually run a ridiculously easy first job or two to get people used to the atmosphere and flavor of the game. By the time they have a firm understanding of the eggshells and hammers style of combat, we have a fully functioning runner party.

[Ciryx]

Well, considering I'm doing this right now with my wife, here you go:

I had her read the short story at the beginning for the SR4 book so she had a feel for the "mood" of the game. I then gave her a Cliff Notes version of the History from the mid 90's up to 2071 so she has an idea of how things got there. Then we went into making her character. I didn't bog her down with how the char gen system works. I just asked her, "In a setting like this, what would you like to play?" She comes back with, "A bartender who knows about explosives, kinda like Basher from Ocean's 11 but working as a bartender for a side job. I'd also like to be able to fight with guns like they do in Equilibrium." From there, I walked her through char gen and tried to make it fit. She had to comprimise a bit, but in the end she was happy with what she got. Then I went over the basic rules of combat. This was fairly easy because she's not new to RPing, just new to SR, so I had an advantage there. I then went and made her a "cheat sheet" with things like how you calculate your dice pools for combat and social situations (she also fills the role of a face because we made her charasmatic since she's a show-tender type bartender) and put a list of the different modifiers. This way she doesn't have to go rifling through the book every 2 minutes to find something out, it's right there on 3 sheets of paper. From there on, it's a "learn on the job" type of thing. We just explain while we're playing.

Hope this helps.

[Aaron]

For my part, I'd use Mr. McQuillan's most excellent demo from Gen Con (I think that was his) in conjunction with the cheat sheets.

[XON2000]

I like to introduce the core mechanics first, so I try to steer new players away from playing magicians, hackers, etc. They need to understand the fundamentals before we add extra subsystems into the mix.

Then, I give an overview of the die-rolling mechanic, including how to use Edge. At that point, I'll start the game and create plenty of situations which allow the players to put what they've learned to use: perception checks, social rolls, etc.

Once they've mastered the basics, I'll introduce a simple combat and work in initiative, damage tracks, wound modifiers, and such.

After a session or two, if any players want to try out a more complex archetype, I let them create a new character.

[nezumi]

I run online. Currently, my method is as such:

1) Make sure everyone has the main book or, at minimum, the quick start guide. At the same time, restrict myself to only the main book (so no M&M, MitS, etc.)
2) Have a thread of game mechanics in brief, and a second thread of examples of the game mechanics at work. I don't expect anyone to actually read them, but they're there if people want them.
3) Talk to the player about what sort of character they want and make the character for him, showing what the different things mean. This allows the player to have the character he wants, without forcing him to learn all the intricacies of Shadowrun to make the character workable. While I'd like to use the pregen characters in the books, they're terrible, and I only use them as a quick template. How much I engage the player in this process depends on how much of a head he has for this and how involved he wants to get. I generally incorporate physical combat and magic, but not decking or rigging for new players.
4) Have at least one expert available to help nudge things along.
5) Provide lots of short, snippets of text to describe the world without making it into a reading assignment. Recommend movies and draw parallels to things the player already knows.
6) The first run is straightforward, with little or no legwork required. I never kill PCs on the first mission, no matter how much they deserve it, so they know they have space to learn the world. Consecutive missions become more deadly.

Ultimately though, as long as I keep the player interested and engaged, he'll keep playing and he'll want to learn the system. If he doesn't enjoy the game, there's nothing I can do to teach him the system.

[last_of_the_grea...]

I let them read a short story first, so they get the feel of the mood. Then I have them read Game Concepts, Pages 51 through 69. Parts 3 is look at the archetypes with them, letting them ask questions about them and their stats/stuff and answering with an example. This is usually enough to help them build a character and to help then understand the intro game session that lets them test out the rules. After that it's just play, play, play!

[Zak]

As I have just done this with a new group (experienced roleplayers except one, but new to SR):

The first session was basically describing the background and creating some characters (I wanted to go with premade ones, but they overruled me (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) ).
They all knew Blade Runner, so I started at that point, added AR (without detailing the rest of the matrix too much, except saying its wireless and used by everyone).
After this I gave them some details on what runners do and how they live.

So, 30 minutes into the session we started making characters which took us the rest of the day (~5 hours).
I wanted to avoid this and jump into some action first, but the group insisted on making their own chars.
This gave me time to explain how tests work, why comlinks are a must and told them about a few runs from a runners perspective.

Next session everyone had their characters ready; except one difficult player who couldn't decide between troll and elf (IMG:style_emoticons/default/twirl.gif)
- we went with ignoring that for the time so we could get started.

They got a free Johnson contact from me who gave them the first runs.
The first one was a simple B&E where I could outline security systems and technical rules (hacking, electronics, monowire (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) ).
I tried to focus on the looks of things - AR overlays, VR hosts (a simple one), interacting with some average joes.

The next run went into the barrens, helping out 'negotiate' with a gang. This time I played up the sick and dark part of the setting.
Of course they did go for a firefight and we had 2 hours of 'fun' explaining modifiers and why using tactics might be a good idea.
One character died here because the player went for the main tank approach. I hope he understood that Shadowrun is not WoW.

For the third session I sent them into downtown Seattle. The Troll/Elf dispute was settled by now - she went for an Orc (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wobble.gif)
And the dead character seemed to have a brother with the same skillset (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sleepy.gif) - oh well, can we start now?

It was a simple bodyguard job with a catch: The protected shouldn't know about the bodyguards.
It went pretty smooth, they actually managed to drop the kidnappers without the victim or the star noticing.
Something I hadn't expected as the trap was rather harsh. Again, I stressed how things look, feel and how annoying AR-spam can be.

The fourth session is comming up, this time I will hit them with some magic and spirits. I have not planned this out yet, but I think I will send them out of the plex to show them the countryside. I think the Johnson will betray them now, it's about time. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

The feedback to the rules and background is pretty good so far and I think it will work out as a regular group.

This is no hard ruleset or method, but I think a system is learned best by playing.
Introducing one rule aspect after another and trying to get across the feel of the system.
I'd prefer to use premade (by me - not the bad ones in the book) characters, but all groups I had so far wanted to make their own characters.

Hope it helps.

[imperialus]

First thing I do is loan them one of my BBB's. I tell them to read up to page 68 and then ask them what kind of character they see themselves playing. I try to nudge them away from archtypes like hackers, technos, or mages. Once I have an archetype idea I create a character for them and then spend a one on one session going over the character, tweaking stats, and running them through a brief sequence that plays to their strengths so they can get a feel for the mechanics. For example someone creating a juiced up street sam will fight off a few halloweeners, a face might negotiate a deal, ect. They always get some kind of little beanie for the 'run'. Sometimes it's just some extra cash, sometimes a contact, sometimes some gear. Then they join the group.

[Backgammon]

I start with popular culture. It's Blade Runner, it's The Matrix. Just work on the basic atmosphere of cyberpunk. Then talk about what you'll be playing - a criminal that breaks into places, you live in the dark underbelly of society. Once that phase is done, I give 'em the "So It Came To Pass" section to read - specialise that generic cyberpunk setting to Shadowrun proper. Then it's make a character time, and then they keep learning by playing as I introduce various themes. By this time, of course, they have plenty of quesitons of their own about the world, with a glint in their eye.

[JudgementLoaf]

It really depends with me. If the person who is joining the group is a veteran gamer with other systems (any of the d20 stuff, ect.) I usually just have them check out some different books/movies that are close approximations to the setting, and then build a character with them one on one. If they are novices to RPGs, I will give them one of the basic templates, tweaked for their likes/dislikes, then let them create a character with my help once they understand the role of the dice better. In all cases, I loan them a book or two and have them read it. Before play.

[underaneonhalo]

I'm going to try this out with a group later this summer.

I am making 5 different single player runs (playtime <2hrs), each based on a general character type (face, mage, gun bunny/adept, hacker/techno, and a flexible generic one for those nonspecific types). I will give my players a little survey with basic questions about their character (name, family, description, etc) to give to me at their leisure. After I have their survey I'll arrange a time to have them come over alone and we will sit one on one and make their character together before playing a brief game using the run specific to them.

here's what I hope to achieve

1) The survey will (hopefully) make the player think about their character beyond numbers and neato gear before a single point is spent, it will also give me an idea of which direction to head the game based on the whole groups input (ruthless killers, humanitarian freedom fighters, fry cooks, etc).

2) Sitting one on one and making the character will help me make sure they end up with who they want to play, creating a more enjoyable experience for them. Also this will hopefully help them understand their character and what they can do.

3) they'll have about an hour+ of gameplay under their belt before the first real session, as well as having a shared contact (fixer) with the rest of the team. This will help avoid the classic D&D first session opening line of "You meet on the road to blahblah" or "You are sitting at the corner table of the Dewdrop Inn blahblah".

I'll end the solo run with scheduling the meet that will be the teams first session, ideally they wont have any idea about each others character until the first game thereby creating the slight air of distrust that should accompany a first meet. I'll post a thread after I start this up to keep everyone informed.

[Sir_Psycho]

Well, my girlfriend was lying on my bed playing her DS and asked what I was doing on Gmail (where I'm building my character). I said nothing.

Several hours later, we were at a bus stop, as she continuously harrassed me to tell her what she was doing, and she had so far determined that it was "one of your nerdy things", but wanted to know what exactly. I responded with:

"Ok. It's a pen and paper role playing game called Shadowrun. It's 2070 and I'm a vegan czechoslovakian female dwarf research scientist and computational theorist of prodigal intelligence who now works as a hacker and underground criminal."

"Dwarf?!"

[Method]

Really you have 2 categories: those who have played P&P RPGs before and utter newbs.

Gamers that have experience with any other game generally understand RPG concepts like "dice mechanics" and "stat lines" so really all they need is some fluff about the setting. For that I tend to verbally recap the high points of "So it came to pass..." and "History Lession..." After almost 20 years with SR I find I can rattle off most of the key historical developments from memory. Then I give them a crash course in SR-specific dice mechanics and usually they are ready to roll.

Newbs are a little tougher. You have to give them the same history lesson described above, and usually some pop culture reference as others have discussed. You also have to explain the idea of "collective story telling" and what it means to role play.

I tend to use some standard metaphors, for example:

"Say I'm George Lucas and I want to write Star Wars. I have a great idea for the bad guy (Darth Vader) and an evil plot, but I don't know the hero or the ending. Then lets say you come up with a character like Luke Skywalker or Han Solo...." You get the idea.

Another metaphor I often use to explain stats and dice mechanics is the RL example of a batting average:

"The baseball player has a certain level of skill and experience which is equated to a batting average. Looking at the average you can judge how good (or bad) he is at hitting a ball in general, but he doesn't hit every pitch every time. Thats where the dice come in..."

Anyway, once they grasp the general concepts behind role playing and some background fluff on the setting I usually walk them through building a character (explaining fluff and mechanics further as I go along) and then start them playing. I find that most of what people learn they learn through playing, so its kind of a waste of time to try to explain everything before hand. Intro scenarios like Food Fight or simple one shots usually work best. New players need time to feel out the system and the world before they are ready for an elaborate plot or campaign.

Hope that helps.

EDIT: one other thing that I find challenging is getting veteran SR players (i.e. not GMs) to learn the rules at a level of detail that allows for fluid and rapid game play. I've found that SR4's streamlined mechanics really help with that. My group of 10+ years seemed to pick up SR4 faster in one session than all the years we played SR3 together. Anyway, I just thought I'd mention that any discussion of "teaching Shadowrun" wouldn't be complete without some discussion of "teaching old dogs new tricks", so to speak.

[Cain]

Method's right in that there's a different approach required to teach Shadowrun to RPG newbies than there is to teaching RPG veterans.

In either case, however, I start with the setting. I'll quickly sketch out the basics: The year is 2070, and magic has returned to the world. I'll start filling in details by focusing on what they already know. Like Backgammon, I usually start with pop culture references, but I'll also go to Snow Crash and Neuromancer, if they've read them. A veteran will be given references to RPG tropes, such as dragons and how Shadowrun magic is different than other systems. A newbie will be given much more detailed info on the setting, to build up excitement.

Explaining the core mechanic, of either SR3 or 4, takes me about 30 seconds. The next step is character creation, which always begins with character concept. Veteran players can gloss over this part, while new players will need much more help. But the goal for both is the same: to create a character story that fits into the Shadowrun universe, so that the player understands his character's place in the world. A lot more setting can be explained as this part goes on.

We then go to numbers. We went over it pretty extensively in This Thread, but it's all part of the teaching process. Doing the numbers takes forever for both old and new players, so even more setting can be imparted as this process goes on. For new players, I may skip the numbers entirely and go to a sample character from the archive, but spend the time to customize the character to better fit the concept.

Edit: I forgot one thing. Something that flat-out doesn't work is to jump straightaway into character creation. You'll just confuse and frustrate new players, although experienced RPGers won't be quite as bad off. You always need to start with a general setting, then work up to more and more details. Then, you need to help them create a workable concept. Try and create a character without enough information to create a concept, and you will fail.

[Stahlseele]

i generally start people out with the easiest character concept(straight combat monkey) to let them get the hang of the basic rules and get them to know the setting . . after they have mastered that, i ask them what kind of character they REALLY wanna play and try and pair them up with somebody who plays a similar character to show them the ropes of their chosen trade . . and of course, we bombard them with the rule-books they need *g*

[Cardul]

I hate to say it, but, like with Battletech, I have found it hard to give a quick, concise overview of the world, especially as half the people who come up have never heard of Blade Runner, or, heck, even Johnny Mnemonic. I do not really think the Matrix is a good example, myself.

So, I generally findmyself at a loss of words..I much prefer to do it the "This is what you know" style in the beginning, and, as the game rolls along, let the players learn more about the world as they go along. I have found that makes it better then trying to tell them EVERYTHING from the NANA revolts, etc up through the Crash 2.0 in a single instance.(And it allows some dramatic devices to be used..)

[Cantankerous]

Hiya,

I'm starting this thread for a specific research purpose. I'd appreciate it if people explained their methodology for how they explain and teach Shadowrun to someone new to roleplaying [or at least new to Shadowrun]. I'm not looking so much for a back-and-forth discussion as to which method is "best", I just want everyone to infodump their chosen method, why they do it that way, and what other ways they've tried.

thanks!

What's always worked best for me was to start 'em out in a one on one session where we really nail down all their background. Even back before point buys were official, I had them, and started my people out right about the level of the average local ganger build point wise, to let them get their feet wet and yet still both feel and see how far above the average "citizen" they were and how far below the legendary Runners too. This usually fostered BOTH bravado and caution bordering on paranoia...the perfect mix for my games. We do them as "A week end in the life of" style and get the new player to see their characters as people first and foremost.

It played up the dichotomies too. If the Player was from a Corp background (a former Corp Rigger comes to mind) , I went heavily in to the detailing of the "Corporater's Day Dream", the feeling of being a part of the clockwork beehive, the feeling of security and belonging and BOREDOM and OPPRESSION...the feeling of never having a seconds control over your own life from the moment you awoke until the moment you went to bed, always safe and oppressed in the Corporate cocoon. All of that as a dream sequence. Then they'd wake up in whatever lifestyle they had chosen, but paranoid as hell a that their parent corp knew they were still alive, was still looking to track them down and take them back to their dull, safe oppression..after having properly punished them of course...flashbacks of whispered rumors of electro shock and drug therapies or bits of cyberware in your head that could activate pain or pleasure centers or both at once or simply be detonated and blow your head completely apart. But waking wasn't all that and a bag of chips either. I also used the idea of enemies before they came out in the Companion and used THAT to feed the paranoia.
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Or the guy who always lived in the slums, the piece of street muscle with the second hand cyberware muscle enhancements that had been culled out of some other poor slob who no longer needed them, and the realization that maybe he had done exactly the same thing. Were these things out of a corpse really inside of you? Had you really done that to yourself? And why? Just so that you could make sure that the next time some wanking nut job of a Humanis goon started shooting up everyone that moved, like they did your little sister and your Aunt Annie, that this time you could drive your fist THROUGH their pathetic human head?!?!?!

All of this thought while waiting in some interminable line to get over the bridge out of the LCZ and into the part of the Smoke where you had to go to hunt down that idiot wanker who threw a petrol bomb through the window of some Bloods favorite Pickup shack. Racker had to be taught, didn' he? He'd probably have ta get squared. Squared and boxed. Why not? He'd do it to you quick enough if the spiked shoe was on the other foot. Maybe you could stop in to the Swiss Zoo on the way back... if they'd let you in. Maybe find some roller Kyllie who wanted to rub out with a genuine Baldrick snake boy to piss of her haircut daddy. Another day, another rakkin penny o' pay and Sov o' trouble.

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The idea is to play it up hard, harder even than in game. Make them see the highs and the lows and no matter where they are coming in from, make them think it's both the best and the worst of life simultaneously.



Isshia

[Cantankerous]

Part two is to then take them through a day that THEY make all the decisions on. Make it a LIGHT challenge, but something that presses on their own particular specialty while showing the dangers of being alone enough to worry even the most confident of them and at the same time make it clear that they are SKILLED (or talented, or just plain brutal, or whatever fits) when compared to the next guy.

Then, at the end of the session, after I've broke them in on all the major aspects of the game and their character, I drop whatever extra points are needed to bring them up to group spec and advance them in time to the group date, altering and expanding on backgrounds as we go.

These organic characters are usually HUGELY attractive RP wise. It gets the person out of themselves and in to the character, the setting and the paranoia of being a Runner.


Isshia

[FrankTrollman]

• Basic dice mechanics. Dice pools, levels of success.
• Setting.
• Produce a character for them based on their input.
• Run a game.

Chargen is pretty complicated and not useful for most of the game. Once someone knows how to roll dice to accomplish tasks in-game, they can take a pre-made character and run with it. For the setting, I usually give an outline and then allow questions to come up as people say "What's happening in this part of the world?"

-Frank

[Blade]

Depends on the player. If he's new to RPG or just to Shadowrun. If he knows cyberpunk, what he likes...

I'm currently working on a 5 pages graphical introduction to the Shadowrun universe, in the style of my webcomic (link in sig).

[Crusher Bob]

Give a brief description of the game, and what the world looks like. If it lasts more than 10 minutes it's probably too long. So don't go over the whole history or anything like that. This is what the intro fiction in the first section of the book is supposed to do, so it you are not feeling particularly creative, have everyone read that instead.

Then, Nail down the exact genre everyone wants to play.
You're Under Arrest and Hard Boiled are both police dramas, right? This means that a character from one can easily be dropped into the other... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Next, what things is the game going to focus on and what stuff is it going to ignore?

For example, in Hitman series of games, the most super sekret assassin in the world is a bald ubermensch with a bar code on the back of his head.

Then, go over the typical stuff that works in movies and books, but doesn't work in RPGs. or example, hogging the spotlight.

Next, go over the different roles in the party (the muscle, the face, the magic, etc) and describe some typical examples of each one.
Once everyone has picked what they want to play, try to start them off with dumpshock archetypes, since the archetypes in the book are never worth anything. This helps you too, in that you know everythig the archetype has, so you can suggest to the player things like, "Now would be a good time for you to use your..."

Once everyone has their character in front of them, go over the basic die mechanics. Ideally, each to the character sheets should have all the pools precomputed and printed next to the skill and any pieces of equipment.

Then, start the game with a news broadcast including the weather. Bonus points for having a newspaper handout. Bonus points for making this the Xth anniversary of some event in the past (the awakening, the seretech decision, the night of rage, or whatever) to try to get the players interested in the rest of the games history.

[raphabonelli]

I've did translated to brazilian portuguese (for personal use) some chapters of the book. Buzzkill, History Lesson for the Reality Impaired e Life on the Edge, along with every short tale that begin each chapter, and give to my new players for then to read. Those chapters sumarize a good portion of what is Shadowrun.

I´ve find teaching rules quite boring, so i recomend for new players to get a template from the book. After 2 or 3 runs i ask for the players intentions of keeping the character or creating his own.

It´s working so far.

[Ryu]

Usually there is already interest in the game when I take over. Most newbies are either friends who want to get in on the regular action, or members of groups playing different systems.

The first step is always, even for those who have heard things before, an introduction into the general gameworld (VERY short, mostly races/augmentation/magic/runner attitude). Then I give some more details on the current campaign/situation.

Character generation is handled on a case-by-case basis. Some get pre-gens, some want to build-their-own (those with previous experience). Newbies are forbidden from playing one-trick-ponies. This process contains quite a few decisions made by an established player, with the understanding that character changes will be allowed later on. Flavourfull descriptions are more important than optimal mechanics at this stage- teach them while they are young (IMG:style_emoticons/default/spin.gif)

Playtime. Everyone is expected to play for the Newbie - get them to act, show them what number of dice to roll, encourage them to take the spotlight. As a GM, I start the new char away from the rest of the group for a "tutorial" - mostly low-level combat +wireless matrix - unless the group is very small anyway.

If the first run was liked well enough to keep the new targe... group member interested, I then try to have a few simple runs portraying interesting parts of the gameworld in the next sessions.