Levels in Shadowrun Options

[silva]

Leafing through Unknown Armies the other day, I thought something that could work nicely in Shadowrun: the separation of the setting in different “levels”. In UA (an urban-horror-conspiracy setting) there are 3 “levels” of gaming: street, global and cosmic. Each implying a different set of elements for the players to interact (motivations, contacts, threats, plots, physical environment, etc).

Don’t know how these levels would translate to Shadowrun (maybe “Street, Corporate and Global” ? don’t know..) but it could help the group to have a focused introduction (obviously, after a while the line dividing these levels should blur somehow, depending on the group´s evolution “in the shadows”). Also, it could give novice groups a more comprehensive starting “base” to begin with.

So, say, a group of players on “Street” level would delve on criminal activities, gangs wars, dark alley murders, street survival, cops troubles, etc. While a group on “Corporate” level would delve on corp intrigue and machination, extractions, high-level assassinations, sabotage, etc.

So, what do you think? Would this idea be useful in Shadowrun?

[Kagetenshi]

"Street", "Local", "Regional", "Global" is the most obvious division to me—the lines aren't bright, but "Street" indicates the kind of very-small-scale focus that you get with, say, a gang mostly focused on trying to muscle in on the turf of the next gang over, "Local" is your typical Shadowrun campaign where you've got a city (usually Seattle) and almost everything you do happens within that city, "Regional" would be a game where you cross international borders with frequency but usually have access to overland routes (think campaign set in Seattle where runs often stage to the Tir, Salish-Shidhe, Ute, CFS, that kind of place, or Chicago with runs to the CAS, Sioux, or Algonkian-Manitou council), or maybe where you're very mobile within a single country (runs spanning the entire contiguous UCAS); maybe that needs another category.

Global could also be split into two categories, I guess; Global gives your jet-setting runners who are off to Tokyo one day, Rhine-Ruhr the next, etc., but I think there's room for a difference between runners who decidedly stage out of some list of places and thus maintain contacts and gear there and those who are off to an entirely different and unfamiliar locale each run.

~J

[Snow_Fox]

Levels? You mean I get to use my 12 sided dice again? and the 4 sided? We're still looking for a use for Gygax's 1 sided dice!

[Brainpiercing7.6...]

"Street", "Local", "Regional", "Global" is the most obvious division to me—the lines aren't bright, but "Street" indicates the kind of very-small-scale focus that you get with, say, a gang mostly focused on trying to muscle in on the turf of the next gang over, "Local" is your typical Shadowrun campaign where you've got a city (usually Seattle) and almost everything you do happens within that city, "Regional" would be a game where you cross international borders with frequency but usually have access to overland routes (think campaign set in Seattle where runs often stage to the Tir, Salish-Shidhe, Ute, CFS, that kind of place, or Chicago with runs to the CAS, Sioux, or Algonkian-Manitou council), or maybe where you're very mobile within a single country (runs spanning the entire contiguous UCAS); maybe that needs another category.

Global could also be split into two categories, I guess; Global gives your jet-setting runners who are off to Tokyo one day, Rhine-Ruhr the next, etc., but I think there's room for a difference between runners who decidedly stage out of some list of places and thus maintain contacts and gear there and those who are off to an entirely different and unfamiliar locale each run.

~J

I think he meant focus of play rather than mobility. A corporate level "runner" would spend more times weaving intrigue during dinner banquets, rather than breaking into stuff, while a global level runner might just be directing machinations of underlings from his commlink, in between meeting presidents, CEOs and great dragons...

This kind of stuff is pretty hard to put into sensible and fun rules. Above all it becomes more an more a face, and possibly hacker only show, because the only job for a sam is as an underling or bodyguard.

[Kagetenshi]

Mm. That doesn't seem like an interesting division to me—the mobility gives an idea of what sort of issues one will face (border crossings, etc.) and how frequently one can expect to rely on one's resources (are you in the same city as your most valuable contacts), as well as a few other things, but the "focus of play"—well, I end up thinking about it like you do, which aside from sidelining the combat-focused types also moves away from the realm of things clearly adjudicated by the rules.

~J

[Karoline]

Doesn't SR already have that? 300, 400, and 500 BP builds, known as street, pro, and prime?

[KarmaInferno]

Global might have as much action as the others, but certain things would be streamlined as a 'given' at that level.

Transport ceases to be an issue anymore, it's assumed that the players can get themselves and any necessary regular equipment in and out of where they need to be. No more need to come up with complicated smuggling plans for this or that, it's just handwaved as happening in the background unless dramatically appropriate.

Targets, obviously, become bigger and harder.

I'm thinking of TV shows like The Unit. They are a global show, but focus on a small team of black ops specialists.

Global campaigns will tend to have a LOT less Pink Mohawk, though, I think, though it's not impossible.



-k

[Kagetenshi]

That would seem to make Global more similar to Regional—the defining characteristics of the levels that I was thinking in terms of are "what do you have to worry about", with "getting equipment across big oceans" being the one Global really brings (also "not knowing the locale").

That said, the details are certainly potentially nitpicky enough that I could easily see a group wanting to pull out the "not knowing the locale" bit (and the "new and exciting places every week" bit) without necessarily having the "every job has a smuggling subrun before it" bit come along for the ride.

~J

[Wordman]

In Unknown Armies, the important thing about the three-tier division is less about the geography and more about what the players know about how the world really works. That is, at the street level magic is just a rumor, and the game is mostly about weird shit transgressing on the real world. The global level is played by people who not only know what magic is, but play changes to be about using that knowledge to manipulate the world. The cosmic level features players that know about the Invisible Clergy, and are probably trying to ascend to it.

Shadowrun really isn't setup for that level of reveal, though you could probably add something similar. The only thing I can think of that is similar is the whole immortal elf thing and the horrors.

Seems to me for the level division you are talking about to make sense, it really needs something that changes the tenor of the game at each level.

[Yama King]

If it's knowledge I would wedge "Metro" in between local and Regional. Or would Local count for areas outside your neighborhood?

[Kagetenshi]

I think "Street" is what you're thinking of "Local" as—mostly staying in one city district (Snohomish, Redmond, etc.); "Local" was meant to capture mostly doing your business in one city with a little ranging outside, minimal long-distance travel and not much in the way of border crossings.

~J