I need to know
1. what books do i need?
2. what materials do i need to play?
3. how many people do i need?
4. is the dice system explained thourly?(i can net lost easly)

it would be nice if you answered my questions

and on a nother note is there any way i can find a pre made "run" as you call it to see how it is layed out
( i havent goten the book yet, my retailer havent goten them in yet)


edited nov. 29 2005 3:34 pm

For 4th Ed?

1) You need the corebook. It's the only one out for 4th as of now.

2) You need, at most, 20 six-sided dice.

3) You need one GM, several players (three or more is a good amount), and a lot of imagination in all of them.

4) The dice system is explained pretty well. Some of the examples are shady, but a bit of thorough playtesting with your players should alleviate that problem.

1. The basic book. That is the only book you need. Some setting books are nice, Shadows of Asia is the most up to date, and Runner Havens is going to come out shortly. But if you want to set your game in Detroit or something, you can get by with nothing at all. Eventually books on Magic, the Matrix, and Cybertechnology will come out, and they are all optional.

2. About 18 six sided dice, a pencil, some pieces of paper, the basic book, and 2-6 friends.

3. It can be played with just 2 - a gamemaster and a player. I personally prefer having about five players and a gamemaster. Like any cooperative storytelling game it depends on your group. Sometimes more people means more disruptions, sometimes it means more ideas to move the story forward.

4. The dice system is explained in excruciating detail. There are places where there is confusion, especially in the hacking section. But the fice system is very easy to undestand. You roll a number of dice and count the number of fives and sixes you roll.

-Frank

And if you are a complete newbie to Shadowrun, may I recommend an extra reading assignment of "Born to Run" by Stephen Kenson, the newest 287 page novel set in the SR universe. It details some of the basics of the SR world, in character, to help with the setting the mood.

Also, you don't need to include magic or hacking right away, if you don't want to. And if you do, you can keep it reeeeal simple at first.

A good way to start first, is to have the players play using one of the Archetype characters (pre-made chars ready to be played) presented in the book, instead of having your players use the time consuming and a bit overwhelming creation rules.

Then just do a small run, no big huge fancy plot - just have them hit a warehouse or something, make them do basic legwork first, etc.

And when you have questions, you can check here. There is a search function you can limit to only the 4th ed. sub forum, to check if someone has already answered a question similar to yours, or just post away and ask!

Hope you enjoy Shadowrun, chummer!

bah for reading go to anything written by Nigel Findley.

thanks for the help guys but can you answer the last one i just added

The dice system is massively more simple than the previous editions.

You roll X number of six-sided dice, and for every 5 or 6 you get, it's a "hit." The more hits, the better.

If half or more of your dice are 1's, then you "glitched" (fumbled in some way). If that happens and you didn't roll any hits as well, then you "critical glitched" (which is a disastrous fumble).

With few exceptions, you usually roll a number of dice equal to an Attribute (like Strength, Willpower, and so forth) plus a Skill (like Unarmed Combat or Perception), plus any modifiers from equipment, circumstances, and so on.

There are other details, but that's the core of the dice system.

If you want to see a very simplistic run in action, you can pop over to the Welcome to the Shadows section and read the threads for the game I am running there. The scenario and basically complete and should end in the next week or so (just need to tie up loose ends).
It's is the classic shadowrun adventure for newbs. The players have gotten the munchies at 3am and gone down to the local Stuffer Shack. Unfortunately for them, a gang is about to hold the place up and all hell breaks loose as gunfire demolishes the varied product displays in the store.
It's a great way to introduce new players to the mechanics of the game without taking itself too seriously.

Here are links to both the in-character and out-of-character threads:
IC: SR4-First Run, Food Fight!
OOC: SR4-First Run, Food Fight!

If you want any more details about the run (including stats for the gangers and a map) just send me a PM.

A good imagination is the ultimate tool in any game. This applies to both players and GMs. Yay!