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[Mana Child]

I'm about to start writing up a run/adventure for the first time and gming for the first time. Could anyone offer some advice about writing adventures and running games for the first time.

Help would be greatly appreciated.

Thankyou

[blakkie]

Yes. Use a prefab adventure. Don't open up the can of worms of writing your own till you get experience under your belt. You'll be swamped as it is.

[Zazen]

Just try to relax and go with the flow. It hurts more if you tense up. ;)

[Mana Child]

where can i find prefab adventures?

also, ive read the book about twice but i know that i wouldnt have remembered everything, would people agree that i'm going to remember the rules better through playing or running a game and working with the rules even if i have to check the book a couple of times than reading and reading and reading the book over and over again?

[Backgammon]

Don't script everything. PCs never do what you thought they would do, so writting up the complete story is useless and may even lead to bad GMing if your players feel they are being railroaded. The key is really to be flexible. And remember: your ONLY GOAL is for your players to have fun. If you're trying to lead to a situation, and it seems the players aren't interested, give it up. Come at it with another angle, or just drop it entirely. Never try to force a player to do something. For example, a friend once tried to GM, and he wanted us to meet with a mafia don. We were suspicious, and didn't like the whole idea, so he has us open a door and says "hands grab at you". His plan was to force us to meet the don. But instead we drew weapons, fired covering fire, and drove the hell away.

Also, for details: only make the stats of important PCs. Anyone else can be "all 3s" or "all 5s". Don't worry about making every single precise dice roll for NPCs, it'll only slow down the game. Make maps. This is annoying, but players cannot do without maps.

Just remember, Be Flexible. Don't panic cause the players are trying to do somehting you didn't think of, or if they aren't doing what you wanted. Improvise. Let the players guide you. Wait for them to make decisions, and then throw in challenges to those decisions.

[blakkie]

[Mana Child]

i know more than the players by a mile.

[blakkie]

[Mana Child]

oh, i dont let the players touch my book they have to use the nsrcg with the appropriate books removed lol i only have the SR3 book. so thats all but one removed.
i have dmed dnd before if that counts as gm experience in rpg's

[GunnerJ]

If you get stuff mixed up, ruleswise, and don't feel like ruining the moment by looking it up in the book, be sure to use the Rectal Extraction Method.

If your group's into combat, like mine is, a variation on this is a good, simple prefab adventure you can run. It was the first run I GMed (well, a variation on it...) and it went very well.

[Mana Child]

Rectal Extraction Method?

[blakkie]

[blakkie]

[Mana Child]

lol

[Mana Child]

SR rigger rules i find confusing i'll admit, lucky noone wants to play a rigger

[Crusher Bob]

In the sample run 'They Shoot Wild Horses', many of the groups I've seen would turn down the conditions (ritual sample/alter memory). Be careful when adding conditions to the run as some groups may just turn them down flat, leaving you with no prepared adventure.

More commentary on the prepared adventure:
It's simple enough to be used for a first run, but it railroads too much to get much experience with the game. Basically, the runners sit in a farm house until the targets show up, then they kill them. The thing is that most anything the characters would want to do is forbidden. A first run should offer a lot more options on what to do. Also, you should have an idea of what happens around the run.

In the sample run, where did the villians come from (car, bus, etc), how will they leave, and similar 'mundane' fact that might become very important in the game. Working this out ahead of time can save you a tremendous amount of headache later.

Don't be afraid to let the characters just run over certain events with a good plan, since this promotes the development of good plans further down the line. In the sample adventure 3 or 4 MGs with interlocking fields of fire would make the combat that is the whole point of the adventure take a few seconds. Be aware of the level of tactics likely to be used by your players and try to make sure you don't overwhelm them too soon. On the other hand vilians, can be overwhelmed by PCs (imho). There is a world full of stupid people out there when it comes to shooting at things.

A quick look shows Out for Blood is a potentially better adventure, moslty due to its 'troubleshooting' sections and the fact that the amount of pcs railroading is relatively low.

[crone]

You could try out a couple of combats before the game, to see how that works. Just have a couple of people shoot at each other, and see what dice and tests you need to roll.

Once you decide on the run, then check what rules you think you might need for different sections, and add notes, or put bookmarks in the rule book.

[Backgammon]

Oh! I just had a great idea! Order up the Shadowrun Missions first mission. I've got it and I think it's pretty good, plus you'll have a whole campaign arc planned out for you. Great for new players and a new GM. Even if you only play the first one, it's a very good intro mission. Did I mention it's completely free?

[Crusher Bob]

If the adventure you end up using can be put up on the web, pointing the dumpshock crew at it and asking for off track character actions and what to do about them may help. There are a few potential adventure breakers available in SR.

[GunnerJ]

Everything Crusher mentioned is why I did a modified run. For instance, they were allowed to be more liberal with explosives, they were allowed to visit the sight of the ritual. They looked at it, and decided to use defensive fortifications, but they didn't have time to construct any. So they had to (by their own logic, not one influenced by me) convince one of the members of the group to conjure a nature spirit to help build stuff. I also made it clear that the attackers were equal in number to the PCs, but superior in ability, thus encouraging them to come up with creative defensive tactics.

Other little touches allowed for a lot more player freedom. In retrospect, it wasn't a great run as written, so it mostly turned out well because I turned down the railroading.

[Kakkaraun]

Well, I'd have to say...find "Out for Blood" on the Archives page linked to previously. It's second ed., but you won't need to modify it very much, if at all. IIRC, it's a great early run. And very fun, with a good amount of room for...uh...not railroading-ness (sorry, it's late).

[tisoz]

It sounds like you and the group are experienced with RPGs but new to SR. I'd let them choose a character out of the book and slog your way through a bar fight to learn the melee rules and the benefit of armor. Then a little gang attack to learn the ranged combat rules, some more melee experience, and the benefit of armor. Maybe getting into the magic rules in either scenario.

Then, let them create characters.

[Connor]

You know, "Out for Blood" was the first or second Shadowrun mission I ever played. Lots and lots of fun. We still have some running jokes going back to that game. Highly recommended.

[RedmondLarry]

The official Shadowrun website has three adventures. I've never played them, but Crusher Bob, above, has comments on one of them ("They Shoot Wild Horses"). Look for "Adventures" about 2/3 of the way down on http://www.shadowrunrpg.com/resources/.

If you decide to buy a book adventures, check out "First Run!". I don't see any on stiggybaby.com right now, but I see 3 copies on ebay.

[Eugene]

Here's my advice:

* If the players haven't played before, have them pick from the Archetypes. It's quick, easy, and they're not half-bad.

* Make it a vanilla milk run. Their intel is good, few goons (and all relatively weak), and they aren't screwed over in any way. Give them an idea of how runs ideally go!

* Don't put anything weird in the first one - little magic, no decking (unless a PC is one) - keep the rules stuff to a minimum so they can get their feet wet.

* Don't plug them into an overarching mega-plot at first, either. Sometimes it's nice to have self-contained runs once and a while. It's also nice to have small scope, Sprawl Survival Guide kind of stuff.

* Give them an easy, low-consequence encounter as a combat test. Give a few baddies armor so they can see first hand what a difference it makes.

* Oh, and Blackjack's Dumpshock site has an article called Burnout, with 500 some adventure hooks.

Good luck!