D&D group => Shadowruners, Is it possible? Options

[Grimtooth]

My original group was striclty D&D. There was no other game. When i got into college i was introduced to a BUNCH of new games.

I have to admit that the first time i was told we were playing shadowrun (1st ed) i dug my heels in and whined for about an hour. then they explained the minigun to me and i was hooked.

It took me leaving my old group to have my eyes opened.

[Nikoli]

hehehe, took the PAC for my, but I grok where you are comming from.

[Connor]

I'd also suggest watching The Score if you haven't already. Every aspect of that movie plays into Shadowrun perfectly. You have the old experienced guy, the new hothead, leg work, hiring out the 'decking', a Johnson/Fixer character played by Brando, double-crosses and all sorts of good stuff.

Plus, DeNiro's character's advice to Norton's character is good advice to follow for any Shadowrun group.

[JaronK]

Actually, let's add The Italian Job to the list. Perfect example of using brains instead of guns.

JaronK

[Shockwave_IIc]

[sidartha]

[Centurion]

[Arethusa]

[mfb]

you guys make it sound like he's convincing his group to change their sexual preference. "hey, guys, let's play Shadowrun this week." whoah, that was tough! if you start proselytizing, your group will resist you almost automatically because human beings hate being told what to do. if you introduce it as another option, another cool game we can get together and play, then your group won't feel like you're trying to change their ways (because you won't be), and they won't feel the need to resist (because you're not pushing them).

if your group is into 'roll-playing', switching games isn't going to change that. nothing short of a basic willingness to try new things can change a roll-player into a role-player, or vice-versa; and nothing short of a miracle from on high can change someone who places value judgements on those terms into someone who just plays the game and has fun doing it.

[Necro Tech]

I'm gonna need a bigger gun.
Hmmm, Not Big Enough!

[BitBasher]

Split Second :D

[Centurion]

[TinkerGnome]

IMDB has a scant few quotes from the movie. Here are a couple ;)

Dick Durkin: We need to get bigger guns. BIG FUCKING GUNS!

Dick Durkin: I don't think this thing thinks it's Satan, I think this thing IS Satan.
Stone: Well Satan is in deep shit.

[Xirces]

I say it everytime someone starts discussing SR movies

San tau chi saidoi

Or as I know it - "Skyline Cruisers".

The best non-Anime SR film. Ever. See. It. Now.

[simonw2000]

[Kagetenshi]

We need to send more kung-fu fighting teams to accomplish goals.

~J

[Connor]

[kuroko]

I started role-playing by buying 2ed DnD books at a local store. After a few aborted attempts to play, I found a group I liked. About three years ago I fell in with some folks who wanted to play SR. Since then I've been through 4 SR groups and 5 DnD ones, along with the one that got me hooked (and is now 4.5 years old, with two groups of characters, an aborted foray into Spycraft, and a recently started Farscape game).

The net experience, is this. No matter how much people whine about DnD being a dungeon-crawlers game, or SR being being too complex, it is what YOU make it. The first gm for SR wasn't that good at the rules. He was a terrific story-teller, so our games evolved into round-robin writing sessions (not really, but close enough). On the other hand, I've actually seen a hack and slash SR session. I've also seen some hack and slash DnD, but the one I've been with the longest has had games that never involved swinging weapons (sometimes draw to intimidate though) or combat spells (divinations and illusions were quite popular though).

Solkari: The answer to your question is that there is no best way to do this. If they like to role-play and think, they'll succeed in SR quite nicely. If they just want to shoot, maim, and kill, they'll transition to SR only if you as the gm let them. The real thing that you always see flames flying about on this forum is that many here think DnD players are hack and slash only, and never bother trying to find different. I'd advise starting your guys out with the core rule sonly, then expand into magic, rigging, advanced combat, etc... as they feel the need to and are comfortable doing so.

[theartthief]

[RedmondLarry]

Just make it their D&D character's mind and intellect occupy Shadowrun Characters that YOU make up. Don't spend any time trying to make the conversion exact. Give the magicians spells half-way similar to their D&D spells. Give nobody any firearm skills ... their characters have no idea such things exist. But edged weapons and unarmed combat and pole arms and projectile weapons are all good.

Make their attributes be similar to their D&D characters, so big strong fighter types become big strong fighter types. Same for skinny smart guys. Hi Wisdom should become high Willpower.

Lifestyle is whatever is the apartment of the magician who went on the quest. And maybe he has some team mates that will drop by and take a liking to the D&D characters, and help show them the ropes. Money is a credstick in their pockets with a few hundred nuyen, but they don't know what it is.

When they wake up in the apartment, you can describe their surroundings to them exactly as they would experience it. Let them figure out eventually that it is Earth in our future. You don't need to give them character sheets until they've explored the city, the gangs, the cops, etc.

When they wake up, Elves are taller than Humans, instead of shorter. Dwarves exist.

Hit points go away. Everyone has a condition monitor. Every character is one bullet away from dieing, all the time. Higher hitpoint characters should have a higher Body score. They should feel that the world is a dangerous place. Have them see normal people and gangers die during their first trip outside the apartment. Give them the gritty realism of the shadowrun world.

Have a great time, and tell us how it goes.

/Edit: Maybe at the end of it all, they find a way back to their world where they can do a Raise Dead on the original Shadowrun Magician.

[simonw2000]

Excellent!

[Solkari]

If only I could actually do that. You see, part of my problem is that I'm not the gm for our group. And in our last session, our gm said that we were going to have a balance of role-playing and dungeon crawling, this was of course, while we were crawling through a dungeon.

Well, maybe I'll give him a few weeks before I really start a coup. I know that I have one member of the group on my side. Some of the others seem to have the opinion that I'm hopelessly obsessed with an inferior system and setting, and not even willing to hear me out. I'll just wait and see how much role-playing we do next time.

Maybe a few weeks down the road, the group will give me a shot at actually getting into the game. And maybe a few sessions in, they'll get the hint that they have to look before they leap. I'll let you all know how it goes.

[Jaded]

Bring your shadowrun books to the game. Open them to some of your favorite bits of art. Work on characters.

Since men are motivated by breasts, and your friends are probably gamer guys...download some porn girls and print the images out. Scatter pictures while perusing through your books. These are now NPCs you're working on.

Find some total badass pics for guy characters based on what you know of your friends. Have a samurai sword ninja wannabe? Plenty of that image on the net. Basically, you're luring them into interest. Laying paths of cheese to your SR books. When one shows interest, show him the character you've already created you think he'd like.

Going from dungeon hacking DnD to anything else can be hard...if that's the style you're doing. I remember the first time we tried a non fantasy game, ended up walking into every building in a Traveller city. Door to door as we mapped the city. The GM was new too, so that's our whole adventure. Ugh. :D

[TinkerGnome]

Behold, the power of p0rn!