Have you ever... Options

[LordArcana]

I am curious if any of the GM's here have ever started a Shadowrun adventure, mission, campaign etc. in medias res? Similar to the idea of the Stuffer Shack scenario in the Quick Start Rules. Just grab your runners and plop them down into a situation that they would be in as part of their day to day lives (possibly without much equipment) and suddenly all hell breaks out...

[CanRay]

Yep.

They went on a bar crawl and woke up stripped to their undies in a ghoul den. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[LordArcana]

Yep.

They went on a bar crawl and woke up stripped to their undies in a ghoul den. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

oh that is just mean (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[SpellBinder]

Sounds almost like the beginning to "Elevator Ride To Hell."

[CanRay]

Yep.

They went on a bar crawl and woke up stripped to their undies in a ghoul den. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

oh that is just mean (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Oh, it gets worse. Much worse. Almost a humiliation conga line for one of the characters, whose player gave me the suggestion for that style of game. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Medicineman]

Oh, it gets worse. Much worse. Almost a humiliation conga line for one of the characters, whose player gave me the suggestion for that style of game. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

so the players wanted to be kicked in the Ass ?
sounds pretty masochistic to me but...each to his own ( ? )
I myself never did that as a GM and I consider it a very bad gaming style. To me this is like forcing your will onto the players and their characters at the same time.

with a forceful Dance
Medicineman

[xsansara]

I agree with the Medicineman.

Though I have occasionally used fluff actions as a plot hook. Like when one character was a smuggler, I had him ambushed en route. Characters then went to investigate.

Unlike other games SR makes it quite hard to start the "adventure" on the fly. Usually, you would want to have all characters in one place, for convenience, but unless they are drinking buddies, this will only happen during a run or directly before or afterwards.

A favourite twist of my husbands is a plane crash/train crash/other accident close to where the chars happen to be. What will you do? Help? Loot? Get the hell out? It does not always work out well, because it is surprisingly difficult to switch from goal-centered thinking to oppurtunity-centered thinking.

[CanRay]

so the players wanted to be kicked in the Ass ?
sounds pretty masochistic to me but...each to his own ( ? )
I myself never did that as a GM and I consider it a very bad gaming style. To me this is like forcing your will onto the players and their characters at the same time.

with a forceful Dance
Medicineman

No, it was all part of the idea the player gave me for the adventure.

One of the rules of gaming: "Do not give the GM ideas". (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

And it was all in good fun, and the players did enjoy themselves. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Mantis]

We've done it a few times, once as a campaign start, where the characters woke up in some sort of prison with only a foggy recollection of how they got there.
I also don't like to do it that much because it takes away the player's choice on how their characters would act or how they got into that situation. If it calls for an expenditure of resources to get to the 'start point', then the players should have a say in how those resources are spent.

[LordArcana]

There were two main reasons for asking. The first is I happened upon my old West End Games copy of Star Wars and it reminded me that was one of the options given on how to get characters together. The second was an idea revolving around the movie "Crash" but without a key focus on the prejudice elements. More of 5 random people whose lives intertwine on this day...

I had a short day dream about having all the characters set to meet a Johnson and as they approach the building they are supposed to go to, an explosion erupts as a group of gangers or possibly another runner team pulls a job gone bad. As the other group escapes the lives of the PC runners are now intertwined as they are recovering from the scene... do they try to capture the other group? Do they try to help the injured? Do they ignore the situation?

[kzt]

You whack my employer before I've gotten paid and I think I'll be kind of hostile.

[Sendaz]

And it was all in good fun, and the players did enjoy themselves. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Not sure what kind of shenanigans were going on if they enjoyed themselves while they were in their underwear in a ghoul den, but it sounds pretty kinky. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)


My ghoulfriend's back and your gonna be in trouble

Hey-la hey-la my ghoulfriend's back....

[kzt]

I had a character who was curled up with a "new friend" from a bar in the bed of his pickup truck on a back road when someone threw a grenade into the bed. Jumped out with just her jacket in hand and then took off running into the trees after the bright flash and bang.

[Medicineman]

And it was all in good fun, and the players did enjoy themselves.

I guessed so. My post was just a kind of ....general warning/advice( for those that don't GM so often) that this kind of playing style can end up very bad

JahtaHow
Medicineman

[Godwyn]

Perhaps. Do you consider starting a campaign off at a meet with Mr. Johnson, knowing you were called together to do a job, but none of the characters having met/worked together before the job? If so, then yes. If not, then no. Not for SR.

Several D&D campaigns over they years have started in bars. In a homebrew setting, I also had the players start out together on the road, having banded together purely for mutual protection.

[xsansara]

Actually I think that is the classic. My last campaign intro started with the fixer asking the characters to pretend they were an established team in front of the Johnson. They had an hour to prepare in-game, but they quickly established roles and that was that.

It is always a bit weird, though. Like your character has been a freelancer for ages, never much working with the same prople, and suddenly there are always the same guys hired with you, kind of by accident.

[SpellBinder]

When you're starting a campaign or a string of mission sessions, it can work out. Gotta have a firm yet delicate touch to guide the party together, and if done well it can go rather smoothly.

Once the fates of the characters are intertwined, then you should be set and not really have to do something like that again.

[toturi]

No, it was all part of the idea the player gave me for the adventure.

One of the rules of gaming: "Do not give the GM ideas". (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

And it was all in good fun, and the players did enjoy themselves. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

The only ideas I give my GM are ones that are attached to hidden booby traps.

My GMs have learnt not to use the ideas I give them. They only serve to blow up in his face, with me laughing maniacally in the background.

[ShadowDog]

Had that done to me in a D&D type game, was a bit harder on the GM cause my character wasn't really a trusting type. Didn't help that I killed half the enemies on my own (and then never killed again, blast my horrible dice!). Right there is why I would be leery of doing it. I personally get a slightly paranoid vibe out of ShadowRun, so I wouldn't be very likely to trust anyone I'm with and would probably bail the second it looks good for me. But I'll admit I have never personally tried to use it. If people were going to get stuck together blindly, they knew that fact before hand.

[White Buffalo]

I once had the players get a call form the fixer to meet a new Johnson. The adventure then fast-forward’s to the team waking up in street clothes on the Tir border with their running gear in duffle bags and a mysterious briefcase. Works best if you know the players MO and can semi predict their actions so you can build a plausible back story for when they investigate. Alternately it could be the first run of a campaign and this is the "meet your team" mission.

[LordArcana]

Had that done to me in a D&D type game, was a bit harder on the GM cause my character wasn't really a trusting type. Didn't help that I killed half the enemies on my own (and then never killed again, blast my horrible dice!). Right there is why I would be leery of doing it. I personally get a slightly paranoid vibe out of ShadowRun, so I wouldn't be very likely to trust anyone I'm with and would probably bail the second it looks good for me. But I'll admit I have never personally tried to use it. If people were going to get stuck together blindly, they knew that fact before hand.

And that is my honest fear of using it. While i hate metagaming more than anything i would never force a player to play his character in a certain way. I'm sure i could come up with something that would "force" the runners to interact... knock down effect slamming one runner into another... or getting ready to take aim when the head of some guy pops up in his view...

[quentra]

In Media Res works best if you establish in the backstory that the runners are already a crew, have done jobs together before, and have some amount of trust. If everyone is on board with that, it works pretty well.

[CanRay]

OK, the full story is this: The group had a Elven Spider-Man, a Human Decker/Rigger, and a Troll Beef-Flavored Krillstick (With Real Farm-Like© Materials! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cyber.gif) ). The Elf had an addiction to CommLink Apps, and wanted to check out the latest one from ShadowSEA: A Bar Reviewer for Shadowrunners!

So, they went on a bar crawl with the Decker driving in his much beloved Ares RoadMaster. The last thing they can remember was going into the Cathode Glow (an OLD skool Decker bar!) and being served something called a PPC. This was two parts grain alcohol and one part something appropriate, and is ripped off of BattleTech. The troll got one in a pint glass. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

So, they woke up, hung over, in the Ghoul Den ("Hey, Ray, run us something very social, like in 'The Hangover', that would work great!" - Player's actual suggestion), and spent most of the game between not caring what happened or scared drekless by the Decker who was minus his ride and his cyberdeck.

On the bright side, we learned about Seattle's laws involving Vehicular Fornication and how a Decker in Shadowrun can get a "+5 Mace of Get The Frag Out!". (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rotate.gif)

[Blade]

I sometimes skip the meet with the Johnson, especially if I want to run a quick session. I sum up the situation and skip to the beginning of the run.

I also had a run that started with:
"You wake up. Roll Initiative."

[Stahlseele]

Had one starting with:"Roll Body"
That was a surprising first Order.