Rookie GM needs help. :wavey:, having problems rumming a game. Options

[kzt]

My biggest tip for a starting GM without a waiting stable of NPC enemies is to not worry about stats or skills.
Just decide what kind of dice pool you want each guy to have and roll. As the GM you don't really have to justify a damn thing unless you've got the time and the inclination.

As to offering 20k to buyback the target, I don't think kidnapping exchanges usually go very well...

Well, plan b is "commence firing".

Street gangs that don't collect payoffs and return their victims more or less unhurt won't be very successful for long.

[Saint Sithney]

Well, plan b is "commence firing".

Street gangs that don't collect payoffs and return their victims more or less unhurt won't be very successful for long.

Well, Street Gangs are the epitome of amateur, and few things are as dangerous as amateur kidnappers.

Though I expect their price would be a bit higher that 20k to begin with. Who kidnaps someone for the price of an entry-level sedan?

[kzt]

Well, Street Gangs are the epitome of amateur, and few things are as dangerous as amateur kidnappers.

Though I expect their price would be a bit higher that 20k to begin with. Who kidnaps someone for the price of an entry-level sedan?

That's their opening bid. You can probably negotiate it down to the cost of a used motorcyle.

[dannyortiz]

when i say the subject , lets call him weapon X, is insane i mean he has schizophrenia. the music isn't real, its all "in his head". i don't think that a select sound filter would help filtering out something that isn't really there, which is way i wanted a mage.

i decided on him being insane cause i wanted a trigger for his supersoldier stuff, which i haven't really decided yet. whenever i get a good idea it usually comes from music. this time it was madonna. the song she did from "die another day" where one of the lines is "i'm gonna close my body now."

i have the "finished product" of the weapon in my head as a genetically optimized, ware'd out monster who has different levels of threat neutralization, if thats even possible. i mean do you really wanna swat a fly with a cruise missile? the scientist chose our current dupe BECAUSE of his schitsophrenia. it would give them soemthing to work off regarding the trigger, instead of inventing ANOTHER something new. they just play off of his mental problems and see what they can turn up with.

also, i'm thinking of maybe adding in multiple personality disorder, trigger being hte music in his head. like i said, i haven't really fleshed out weapon x yet, i don't plan on him being a player in the game YET, not this game anyway. i wanna see what happens in this run before i decide the future. will the scientist, the only one who can controll him ,get out alive? will they need to kill him? will they let her go and try to extract UniOmni's weapon x project (not likely for half the group, but still a maybe)?

and 20K is the opener. i'm willingto go as high as 50. the technomancer/face LOVES to haggle (curse his uncouth elven heart). as does teh mage and the troll. the rigger is a new character, but he's one of the vets. so i expect him to haggle too. think i should go with 30K, 4o if shes unharmed?

This post has been edited by dannyortiz: Mar 20 2010, 10:15 AM

[Saint Sithney]

That's their opening bid. You can probably negotiate it down to the cost of a used motorcyle.

"We have kidnapped your head researcher. We would like four cup noodles, two Cokes, a root beer and an orange Slice. If payment is not made in 12 hours, she is dead. Involve the police, she is dead. If you try to substitute Pepsi for Coke, she is dead. We will call you in 10 hours with further instructions."

[kzt]

"We have kidnapped your head researcher. We would like four cup noodles, two Cokes, a root beer and an orange Slice. If payment is not made in 12 hours, she is dead. Involve the police, she is dead. If you try to substitute Pepsi for Coke, she is dead. We will call you in 10 hours with further instructions."

"We have your little blond. She's kind of obnoxious, so if you want he back unhurt pay us 20 grand in the next 24 hours. Or we'll trade her for 4 high-school chicks, no fatties."

[dannyortiz]

ok, gameday is tomorrow. nothing much changed, i've decided to go with hte templates in the SR4th edition book for the troll goon squad and their leader. i'll put them at a three difficulty. hopefully that'll be a good challenge for my guys, ifthey want to get physical without my character (the weapons specialist, SMG's) there. they havethe rigger and their troll, the rest of them are useless when it comes to combat (one thing that pisses me off). one of them is worthy of the clue files, wherever they may be. her character is desiugned to be our B&E...but she lacks the thought processes for B&E!

i mean, at least i did my research before deciding on a role! that and i play airsoft IRL, and a couple of those guys are REAL gun nuts. i've shot a couple of handguns that i care not to remember their acronym. i feel i have enogh of a basic grasp on combat tactics to my tables gun guy.

This post has been edited by dannyortiz: Mar 26 2010, 09:46 AM

[Crusher Bob]

A handy source for tactics and how-tos is army field manuals. For example, here's FM 7-8 INFANTRY RIFLE PLATOON AND SQUAD. Which should let you just pull simple tactics set-ups and drills out of the book. Of course, things like gangs aren't professional forces, so probably won't do as well.

Another thing, remember that the guy paying to get the job done almost always want the job to actually get done. So it'll help to prepare by thinking of what he already knows; and, of what he knows, what he is willing to tell the team. So once the team agrees to do the job, the guy paying for the job should tell them what he knows. Also, what part of what the guys knows will be incorrect? Will he tell them any lies? If so, what? and why?

Next, the team is going to try to find stuff out, if you are lucky enough to have their character sheets already, take a look at their skills and contacts. What sort of related stuff are their contacts likely to know? What sort of stuff can they find out from their common recon tactics? (Astral recon, low signature flying drones, matrix runs, whatever). Remember that the contacts or different methods of info gathering may present different pictures or provide different amounts of good or bad data.

Another thing to watch out for, especially with non-professional guys is how long they take to get rolling. For example, if the team just walks up to front gate of the junkyard and starts shooting, it'll several combat turns for the other side to even figure out what is going on. As long as combat turn in SR seems to take, it is only a couple of seconds long. Which means that is can take a very large amount of combat time for everyone else to figure out what is going on and get moving. Get one of your pals, and time one of you saying "What's going on?" and your pal replying "My god! they are shooting at us!" and I bet it'll take more than three seconds. And in that time a well coordinated team of runners can have shot half a dozen people in the face, and moved 20 meters through your security perimeter. Of course, plenty of things can go wrong with that sort of speedy improvised assault, but the shock factor can carry you pretty far if the GM doesn't have the other side operating on a hive mind.

Of course, note that some of your enemies in SR will be operating in a hive mind, either because they are insects, or are just running a good tactical network, with machine telepathy and all the bells and whistles; but regular gang members aren't.

[wargear]

my ST asked me to run one, i said ok. i have two weeks to plan, and here's where i am.

the group:
troll street sam.
rigger/hacker human.
elf technomancer/face.
elf B&E specialist.
human mage.

Not bad. Unfortunately, previous posters are correct...too many deckers...unless you are focusing on the matrix as a major part of the story, your excess decker is going to be overshadowed and bored. Shadowrun rewards specialisation and tends to penalise generalists and jack-of-all-trade types.

their gonna get a call from a johnson, they wont know who he's with, only that the groups fixer, acid, send him to them. he needs an extraction, there's a scientist he wants on his payroll. get her, unharmed, and bring her to him. i haven't decided who she works for since i don't know inside-out what those implications might be. payout:100.000 nuyen (i figure 20K each is fair). less if she's harmed physically, or mentally (PTS or something).

There are heaps of "mom 'n pop" corps tinkering around in the background. This early in their careers their rep is insufficient to draw the attention of a B rated corp, much less one of the A+ corps.
I'd say make it Tinycorp A and Tinycorp B are competitors. A has had a breakthrough, B wants it. Set the payout lower...20K total. 5 up front, 15 on delivery of scientist, an extra 10 for all the research notes, an extra 5 for the prototype. Failing to bring in the scientist, the bounties on the notes and prototype equate to a partial success. Johnson refuses to pay expenses, or ammo costs since they want it kept quiet...(paying for ammo means ammo will be used.)
35k (7k apiece) is good money for a norep team.

if they inquire into her location, on her employers computer network they'll find an e-mail asking for money in exchange for her safe return. they'll find that she's been hijacked by a troll gang, who's asking a 20K ransom.

For the Johnson. Hiring the runners to acquire the scientist is equivalent to just paying the trolls off. Same cost. If the runners fail, he can always just arrange a meet and pay for the scientist. Net cost an additional 5k. If the runners actually acquire the notes and prototype, he is way ahead.

the gangers will hole up in a junkyard in a bad up neighborhood. they'll be lookouts and other physical security, but nothing technical to speak of. not even a drone to hack into.

An ideal complication for this run is to have the scientists home corp hire it's own team of runners to reacquire the scientist. Paying only 10k for the return of their scientist, this team is not as good as the PCs, but can definately make a 3-way battle a messy messy thing.

problems that I'm having? how do i "create" the junkyard? i can just template the trolls, so no problem there, same for the NPC scientist.

any other help i can get would be HIGHLY appreciated. this is my second time DMing ANYTHING, the only other thing I've DMed is D&D version 3.0, and that game went HORRIBLY!!

EDIT: this game is run using the rules from the 20th anniversary 4th edition handbook.

Good luck.

[Crusher Bob]

(7k apiece) is good money for a norep team.

Remember that the characters didn't just spring up from nowhere. Saying the team doesn't have any rep is can be a bit like saying that a company formed by Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffet wouldn't have any rep because the company hasn't actaully put out any products yet.

Standard 400 BP PCs are all very highly skilled at what they do, and they didn't get those skills sitting in the basement. So plenty of other people out in the world will have some idea of what the PCs are capable of; the GM doesn't have to start off with them going on runs that are the equivalent of going to the grocery store to begin with.

[nemafow]

I let my PCs decide on what level they are at, whether or not they have a rep, or just some bozo's with some skills, being put into a new team for their o loyal fixer.

[wargear]

Remember that the characters didn't just spring up from nowhere. Saying the team doesn't have any rep is can be a bit like saying that a company formed by Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffet wouldn't have any rep because the company hasn't actaully put out any products yet.

Standard 400 BP PCs are all very highly skilled at what they do, and they didn't get those skills sitting in the basement. So plenty of other people out in the world will have some idea of what the PCs are capable of; the GM doesn't have to start off with them going on runs that are the equivalent of going to the grocery store to begin with.

Fair enough.

We dealt with this issue by 'grading' runners as a metagame mechanic. E through to A. A being Prime Runners, the big guns like Argent, Fastjack and Cap. Chaos. E being little more than Gangers with body armour. If you have newly generated characters with skill specs coming in at 7 or 8, and enough cyber or spell foci to sink the QE2, then it's fine to start them out at C or even low-B...but only if the players can roleplay that level of professionalism. As for setting a newly formed team at that level...there had better be zero clash of personality or the team will fall over quicker than a San Andreas card tower. It's easy to pull together 4 or 5 B-A rated runners, but you wont get a A rated team out of them unless they can act like a smoothly oiled machine.
The average group of players I've seen usually has at least one egomaniac and one troublemaker. Not condusive to good team building.

If the Fixer really thought the team was viable, he wouldn't have them doing a grocery run like the one described.