Why is Shadowrun 'fun'?, You've lost that loving feeling... Options

[Cheshyr]

Lately I've been having trouble enjoying my games. While the stories are interesting and challenging, and my group members are a blast, SR just isn't as much fun. I love the world, but the actual gameplay feels lacking.

So, what part of SR is fun for you? What keeps you excited? How do you keep coming back to the table each week to face down the dystopia yet again?

[Delarn]

Try a new campain. Change characters. Change the game master.

I love SR for being world wide. Where Magic meets the machine and where you are always doing strange missions. Some clear some unclear. Some that give the Players a real ethical debat while in character and out of the game.

[Lok1 :)]

Part of what Delarn said but theirs a lot more, the idea of being a one of the people that slips into one of the cracks in socity, not falling into any of the casts, not a vagriant, not a part of an organized part of crime, just existing despite everything to contrary.
Not to mention the action of the hist, the single decsion that means either life or death, the planing trying to cut down on the unkown, and than the moment when everything goes to hell, and the moment afterwards when it the peaces snap together.
Wow, I am such a nerd to be that into a rollplaying game.
Great thing is, I don't care about being a nerd.
PS: I could go on for a half hour about all the other stuff I love about this game.

[Golgoth]

I like the setting personally. The ability to actually somewhat relate to the setting: Cars, guns, the internet, geeks who like to play with 'magic,' while still having a unique cyberpunk feel. I play a persistent game online right now where we actually roleplay outside of just going on missions or following along in a campaign. That right there also helps to keep the game interesting for me since I can interact in different ways than what is -usually- allowed in a table top setting.

[Orcus Blackweath...]

My personal opinion is that none of that matters.

The game rules are irrelevant, the setting unimportant, none of the developers flair matters one iota.

I agree with what Delarn said. If you like the group you are playing with, and if your GM uses a style you enjoy, you can have a good time playing tiddlywinks. If the group does not mesh, or if you are arguing with the gm all night, you are not going to have a good time regardless of how much you may enjoy other factors.

So examine yourself. Are you getting along with your fellow gamers? Is the GM providing a challenging game? Is the story that your GM tells one that you are able to get into? If the answer is no, discuss your issues with the other players and GM, or find another game to play. You seem happy with the players and the GM, perhaps you are having issues with style. So ask yourself, "Do I like the way combat is happening", "Is there too much combat, too much action, or not enough?" Once you figure out whether you need more roleplay, or more action, and you can decide what matters to you in game, and you can discuss it with your fellow players and GM.

[Ancient History]

Dwarfs with guns.

[pbangarth]

Biker nuns with guns.

[Kagetenshi]

Combat pool!

Also, Shadowbeat.

~J

[Wounded Ronin]

Lately I've been having trouble enjoying my games. While the stories are interesting and challenging, and my group members are a blast, SR just isn't as much fun. I love the world, but the actual gameplay feels lacking.

So, what part of SR is fun for you? What keeps you excited? How do you keep coming back to the table each week to face down the dystopia yet again?

It was about the 80s and the bodycount.

[Ancient History]

Tee hee yo har.

[Moirdryd]

The layers of double dealing and conspiracy in the background.

The simple structure of the most basic campaign format to the melodrama of characters personal lives, triumphs and tragedies.

The layers of Grey in the morality games that SR allows for or the sheer cold edged mercenary types that come out of the shadows too.

Some of the reasons Why shadowrunners shadowrun.

Impressive showdowns with adversaries.

Reocurring personalities that quickly take life so easily.

[Red-ROM]

dwarves with biker nuns

also I like the way you can see almost any movie, and throw an idea from it into shadowrun

[Daylen]

KILLING OTHER PLAYERS FAVORITE CHARACTERS!


or


having fun with friends in an interesting setting...


its a close tie I'm sure for everyone else too.

[Blade]

It's one of the few games where I have fun playing the daily life of the character.
Just playing missions don't really cut it for me now. A B&E from time to time is ok but, to me, the real fun starts when things get personal, when my PC's feet beat the pavement in a living and breathing neighborhood, full of contacts, allies and enemies.

[Medicineman]

So, what part of SR is fun for you? What keeps you excited? How do you keep coming back to the table each week to face down the dystopia yet again?

My Hobbits (as Technomancer and as Combat Mage) ,my Chars in General
Making new Chars,
I keep coming back because I'm still having so much fun playing,even after 25 Years of RPG.
I'm not only playing SR ,but also Deadlands,D&D 3.x,the whole Mix and I still enjoy goinhg to Conventions. I think in the next 30-40 Years I'll be looking for a retirement Center that facilitates Roleplaying Gaming

Hough!
Meddicineman

[Stahlseele]

Terminator killing Legolas! < = that's how you have to play, make it more cyber PUNK!
Have fun, don't try to be those too serious pros all the time . . let one rip . . light it on fire, then let it rip from your full auto shotgun!

[TheFr0g]

The dystopian future, guns and magic thing is cool... but what I really love about the game is the strategizing it takes to get a particular shadowrun accomplished. Personally I've never actually played, only GMed, but even from the other side it is fun to watch a well thought out plan come together. I love all the different roles that can be played, and all the cooperation required between them to give the game the feel of a good heist movie.

[Silverback]

In my opinion it is fun, because the characters have real lifes. They are not a bunch of adventurers wandering through the world - you may travel the world but you have a home. In my fantasy and far-future games the characters are homeless. In the far future you are not riding on horses, instead you use an interstellar ship. This Han Solo style is nice, but in SR the characters feel ...more alive. You know the adress where they live, or at least the part of town in which they dwell. And playing in the (slightly modified by magic, Elves etc.) real world helps the imagination.

just my 2ct

[nezumi]

Are you running SR3 or SR4? SR3 sometimes upsets players because its focus on mechanics slow down gameplay. SR4 gets... goofy. If you're having trouble with one, I'd say try the other. They seem to cover each others flaws pretty well.

[ravensmuse]

I can never just do things the short way...

I love Shadowrun because I can do so much with it. Because it's such an open world, I can have crazy ideas and have open territory to plop it down and run with it.

Harry Potter? I can run that (the adventures of a bunch of college kids in MIT&T). Aliens? I can run that (Ares Firewatch team). Predator? I can run that (Amazon Basin). Shonen manga? I can run that (Emergence). Indiana Jones / Tomb Raider / The Mummy? I can run that (either Dunkelzahn Foundation members or Atlanteans). The Devil Wears Prada meets the Force Unleashed? Yup. (Actually, I gotta actually sit down and write that out). Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell, Tenjou Tenge, Air Gear, the Matrix, Lady Gaga with a katana...

I can use anything that I'm in love with and it won't feel out of place. Love, action, comedy, gender issues, sexuality issues, transhumanism, the pursuit of science over rationality, zombie apocalypses, pop culture...nothing feels out of place in Shadowrun. I think it's that huge open world that makes me love it as much as I do.

Plus there's all of that history! Yeah, it's made up history, but at the same time it feels so real. I love when the books are written as a collection of documents or clippings, because it makes the world seem real. You can take published books and plot them along a timeline, which is really neat, and you get to watch people grow up, fall in love, break up, die - it's heartbreaking when Dunk dies, but we get a lot of really awesome stuff to come out of it, and none of it feels like it was forced (imo, of course).

One final note: Dragons! I was raised with a fantasy loving older sister and uncle, and I love dragons. Oh man, do I love dragons. Shadowrun has Dunkelzahn, probably the coolest literary dragon in existance because he was human in the way that only a dragon can be. We got lots of info from him from his postings on Shadownet, but when his Will was published, it was like looking inside of his mind. There was in-jokes, take that's, humanitarian works, and just plain goofy shit that I catch myself remembering sometimes and chuckling over ("Unlike you, I'm really dead.").

In fact, Shadowrun has the most "personable" dragons ever, dragons who don't exist to horde gold and lord it over you until you're strong enough to go out and kick ass; none of them are people that you want to mess with, but they've got personality. Lofwyr is your typical lording dragon. Hestaby's got a great PR campaign, but is it all flash? Masaru is young but idealistic. Ghostwalker's a bit of an old fogey, but he's a master of strange and mystical arts. And then there's Ryumyo and Luung...

So yeah, that's why I love Shadowrun. And all I had to do was give you a huge wall of text to prove it.

[Sixgun_Sage]

I can never just do things the short way...

I love Shadowrun because I can do so much with it. Because it's such an open world, I can have crazy ideas and have open territory to plop it down and run with it.

Harry Potter? I can run that (the adventures of a bunch of college kids in MIT&T). Aliens? I can run that (Ares Firewatch team). Predator? I can run that (Amazon Basin). Shonen manga? I can run that (Emergence). Indiana Jones / Tomb Raider / The Mummy? I can run that (either Dunkelzahn Foundation members or Atlanteans). The Devil Wears Prada meets the Force Unleashed? Yup. (Actually, I gotta actually sit down and write that out). Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell, Tenjou Tenge, Air Gear, the Matrix, Lady Gaga with a katana...

I can use anything that I'm in love with and it won't feel out of place. Love, action, comedy, gender issues, sexuality issues, transhumanism, the pursuit of science over rationality, zombie apocalypses, pop culture...nothing feels out of place in Shadowrun. I think it's that huge open world that makes me love it as much as I do.

Plus there's all of that history! Yeah, it's made up history, but at the same time it feels so real. I love when the books are written as a collection of documents or clippings, because it makes the world seem real. You can take published books and plot them along a timeline, which is really neat, and you get to watch people grow up, fall in love, break up, die - it's heartbreaking when Dunk dies, but we get a lot of really awesome stuff to come out of it, and none of it feels like it was forced (imo, of course).

One final note: Dragons! I was raised with a fantasy loving older sister and uncle, and I love dragons. Oh man, do I love dragons. Shadowrun has Dunkelzahn, probably the coolest literary dragon in existance because he was human in the way that only a dragon can be. We got lots of info from him from his postings on Shadownet, but when his Will was published, it was like looking inside of his mind. There was in-jokes, take that's, humanitarian works, and just plain goofy shit that I catch myself remembering sometimes and chuckling over ("Unlike you, I'm really dead.").

In fact, Shadowrun has the most "personable" dragons ever, dragons who don't exist to horde gold and lord it over you until you're strong enough to go out and kick ass; none of them are people that you want to mess with, but they've got personality. Lofwyr is your typical lording dragon. Hestaby's got a great PR campaign, but is it all flash? Masaru is young but idealistic. Ghostwalker's a bit of an old fogey, but he's a master of strange and mystical arts. And then there's Ryumyo and Luung...

So yeah, that's why I love Shadowrun. And all I had to do was give you a huge wall of text to prove it.

THIS!

Seriously though, I'm one of those guys that when I sit down to make a character I'll probably run through 4 or 5 sheets sketching out ideas for a character and then, only when I've made something that truly makes me feel the character am I decided, and I've never played a game that gives me so many fantastic and fantastically bizarre options. I've actually played a hacker who was just this side of a cyber zombie and was, basically, a japanese tentacle monster off and on the 'trix!

[DireRadiant]

It's whatever you make it. The limit is your imagination, or how many movies/books you've consumed.

[Lok1 :)]

Terminator killing Legolas! < = that's how you have to play, make it more cyber PUNK!

This reminds me of the story of how I convinced my players to give SR a try, we were sitting around after a session talking about a lot of random shit. Primarly Lord of the rings and possible twists on the character, and someone was debateing how Legolas would have faught if the he had been putt into a futeristic or modern setting, they settled on dual weilding pistols or dual weilding modified shotguns.
The next thing out of my mouth was
"Have you guys ever heard of Shadowrun?"

[Draco18s]

Change up the kind of character you play, get outside your comfort zone. For the first time ever I'm not playing a "beat stuff" character (in fact, this time around, if I'm getting shot at, I've done something very wrong).

Of course, our GM is running the Renraku Archology shutdown module and has voice clips of Shodan from System Shock 1&2

[Wounded Ronin]

The SR system was historically better than the most widely known other system, the D20 system, for good firearms gameplay where getting shot actually kills you.