Shadowrun as a MMORPG?, Won't happen but nice article Options

[Babel]

Came across this link while browsing slashdot today:

http://www.mmorpgdot.com/index.php?hsactio...n=10053&ID=1035

While I don't expect it to ever happen it's nice to see the Shadowrun franchise mentioned in the same breath as Star Trek and James Bond. I honestly don't understand why Shadowrun has never had a decent game built around it, I think a good one is there with the rich backstory Shadowrun has. Yes I know about the SNES and Genesis games but I wouldn't call either of them great. The genesis one was good but couldn't compare to the depth available in modern computer games.

[Demonseed Elite]

I interviewed at Turbine (makers of Asheron's Call, its sequel, and the upcoming Middle Earth and D&D MMORPGs) awhile back for a job there. The interview was being handled by Ken Troop, the senior live development producer there, and during the interview he and I had a long talk about the idea of a Shadowrun RPG. Nothing serious, but he was familiar with the game and we were just chatting about how it'd be a neat MMORPG. But, by the end of that conversational tangent, he and I also agreed that it would be extremely cumbersome to pull off well.

[Rory Blackhand]

Would like to see a game and a movie. There is alot of rich material.

Didn't the Blade movie have a something to do with a Shadowrun author? Was the origional Blade book written by someone who does Shadowrun work? I can't recall. If a Shadow run movie comes out I would like it to have a Blade feel to it.

There was an old Nintendo game Shadowrun. I enjoyed it. I liked the simple version of the Net they used. Liked some of the bar music as well. ish they would make some PC games.

[mfb]

whoah. long time, DE. sup?

i, personally, could pass on an SR MMOG; i'd rather see a non-MM game, possibly with multiplayer.

[TimeKeeper]

This just fell into my lap from another forum I lurk in.

Awake 2062

Supposedly it's a Shadowrun MUD with full support of everything (Rigging, Matrix and magic). You'll need a MUD client though and I can't install one on a government computer.

[Botch]

[Demonseed Elite]

[mfb]

badass. finally, someone to back me up when i say otaku aren't magical!

[Kagetenshi]

Bah humbug. :)

~J

[Demonseed Elite]

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

Someone with authority, no less.

[TheScamp]

[BitBasher]

yeah, you just need a dos prompt and telnet.

[Kagetenshi]

Or a terminal window :P

~J

[nezumi]

Although many government computers do block standard telnet, so it still may not work, and most agencies have regulations disallowing it.

[Kagetenshi]

True. We need MUD over SSH!

~J

[nezumi]

The MUD I used to play had a (poorly made) java interface so you could access it through their website, if you'd like.

[Orion]

I play City of Heroes, and there has been some talk on their forums that a Shadowrun MMO would be very similiar that framework.

For those of you not familiar with CoH here's what's similiar.

Gangs are all over the place and citizens are constantly getting mugged, murdered (you never see this but here about it), or harrassed.

Heroes can, if you take a Punisher type character, carry assualt rifles, throw grenades, lay down caltrops, etc.

There are some decent martial arts techniques that can be taken.

Superpowers can double as magic.

Teams, or solo characters, can take missions that have them go into buildings to rescue people, recover lost or stolen items, or take out bad guys. These missions, in my opinion, are very Shadowrun like.

Anyway, not really plugging CoH but as a framework for a Shadowrun MMO...it would take work to convert...but would be comepletely worth it.

[BitBasher]

Actually I hope they never make a SR MMO from that framework because last I played CoH it was a glorified combat game, because combat was literally all there was to do. IMHO combat is way, way down on the list of appealing things about SR.

[Herald of Verjig...]

My vote is still on slightly multiplayer. I'm not sure what would be a good upper limit on game populations, but I'd rather have one or two groups subject to GM whims than 8765435345 individuals forming 358543562 teams that interfere with each other, steal kills, and infringe on various GMs' carefully planned scenarios.

[Kagetenshi]

What would be intersting is a RMORPG (Randomly), where depending on what you're doing you may interact with one or more other actual teams or players.

~J

[Backgammon]

You could wait and see how the Matrix Online is gonna work out. Can't get much more shadowrunny than that.

[mintcar]

Just tested the Awake MUD. Seems real good. I havent been much impressed by other muds Ive tested, maybe I like this mainly because of the setting, but it seems sincere enough about its focus on roleplaying.

[Abstruse]

The hardest part of making a SR MMORPG is non-repitition of missions. I mean there's only so much a computer NPC can make you go do. After you've stolen the same prototype from the same building for the 400th time, you'll get bored.

It could work, but it would require a large staff to provide missions and things like that. Another problem is that you'd have to have two seperate maps for everything plus a third map -- One for physical, one for astral, and one for the Matrix. Getting the right properties on the right map would be challenging.

If you could figure a way around these two problems (fighting random gangs isn't very Shadowrun like...as few runners are alturistic for alturism's sake), there's a hugely detailed world ready to be exploited.

A single-player or co-op multiplayer SR game, though, would work very well. Look at Metal Gear Solid and the other stealth-based games to see how Shadowrun could work as a game. However, co-op online play NEEDS to be a factor in order to get the team overlap of skills...

The Abstruse One

[CountZero]

What I think would work best for a Shadowrun, multi-player CRPG would be a game in the model of Neverwinter Nights. You can GM for a group of players online, or you can do your own single-player campaign. Expansion would come with more tiles and scenarios and gameplay options. This would also avoid some of the major problems that go with MMORPGs.