Hey, I was wondering what happenned to all the great GMs that used to come to run Missions at MegaCon. This is the 2nd year in a row with no missions. Why not?

This is the first year there were no SRM's at megacon.

However as I understand it the way things were handled last year (thus the reason you think it has been 2 years) had only people I know of who have ever run Shadowrun Games at megacon were I guess you could say put off as far as doing anything this year.

I played last year and it was a very sad turn out for what ever reason heck I even played an alternate character last year just to help fill the table for the couple of people who showed up.

And no before you say something all I did was more or less be an npc as I had already played the mission and was not allowed to really point in any one direction I just used my contacts when asked to and used what ever skills were helpfull.

I would love it though of the 3 people that live in the area would really consider doing Oasis 20 this year and hopefully keep an eye out for any other conventions in the area where gaming is able to be run.

The 3 people I speak of are as far as I know the only people that have ever run Missions in the area and I feel they do a great job of it so heres to hoping and wishing they will do some more soon.

If any of you read this please let me beg you once more to run more missions please please please please please please.

Not that I had planned on going to MegaCon this year, but Ive never had fun playing at that convention in the past anyway. . . and it's gotten too expensive for me since the move to the OCCC.

Jeez 45 bucks for megacon is expensive? You must think that vulkon at 75 bucks is outragous at least megacon isn't stuffed into a tiny hotel.

MegaCon received a lot of attention from SRM during the SR3 campaign because it was the closest local con for the campaign coordinator at the time. (Then Bitrunner.) Unfortunately, I'm located at the opposite side of the country.

Last year, I was able to contact a couple of local GMs and convince them to run events.

This year, those same GMs did not respond to my e-mails.

Further, the convention never contacted me about running events.

If you want events run in your area, there are three possible approaches:

1 - Contact your local convention and tell them what you want to play.

2 - Convince/nag a friend to run the events.

3 - Run the events yourself.

If you're interested in running a number of public events, take a look at the Commando program. FanPro will be happy to give you free stuff in exchange for your time.

Well Codefox I was there this year but as I walked around I found there was no real space I could use to set up and run some SR4 figured I'd run something if no one else showed up.

As for being a commando Dunner I have thought about it but you want either a story (not really a big problem) or a signed letter from my local gameing store (again not too big a deal).

Either way I must run so many events a year or I get dropped from the program.

Yes I can meet the requirements if you count each slot at a convention an event because I could do f/x, megacon, and oasis at least those are the ones I know of so far.

But then there is another problem I want to play I have worked for some time now to get my character up in level to the point where i really like how he's turned out.

If I am running then I can't play because I have read the missions and thus I would be able to get the best win possible which is of course cheating.

Sadly there is no one around to run me and a few others through the SRM's so we get to play then we can run them.

This was even one factor for one of the three gm's that useally do SRM's he want's to play them first to get a feel for them and I can't say that is an all together bad idea.

So while becomeing a commando sounds good it has a few draw backs and in my opinon too many hoops to jump through.

Yeah, I know. I have a few of my own reasons.

I like playing SR much more than running. I don't feel I know the universe well enough to give a good game to someone who knows it inside out. For non-hardcore SR players its fine...but my SR knowledge isn't nearly as vast as some others.

I honestly don't care about the commando program though. Its nice to get free stuff I guess but I'm more intersted in having a fun convention

There will very hopefully be more space next year for gaming and a much wider diversity. We'll just have to smoke all those SRM GMs out of the woodworks! (What happenned to Bitrunner and his guys?)

I think the Commando Requirements for SR have been eased.

This is from an e-mail to the Commandos describing the new system...

Wow...that's very nice actually. And not very difficult to achieve. There's also NecronomiCon here in Tampa which would definately benefit from SRM. My group also does a monthly Games Day event that I could probably use for Shadowrun Missions events.

Just to clarify things about the Commando program:

-There never was any Commando requirement for Missions. AFAIK there never will be either.

-I mentioned the program, because, if you want to run a LOT, it's a nice way for FanPro to say thank you.

-Yes, the requirements for membership in the program habe been substantially toned down.

-In terms of number of events, for minimum membership, it's only 3 events. If you go to a convention and run 3 tables of any FanPro games, you could be done with your annual requirement.

To answer other questions:

Bitrunner's no longer involved in gaming. I don't know what the story is on any of the folks he brought with him.

If everybody in your area wants to play, and nobody wants to run, then there's absolutely nothing I can do to help you. I no longer have a single GM on any lists of volunteers in the entire state of Florida. Folks need to either agree to take turns running, or somebody needs to step up to the plate and run consistently.

Codefox,

If the only thing keeping you from running Shadowrun at any convention or event is eating the modules (in other words, running events prior to playing them which precludes you from playing them altogether), the solution to that is simple, ask the convention coordiators if they offer Slot 0s.

I offer Slot 0s at every conventions and gameday I coordinate (this includes OASIS 20). I have D&D v3.5 judges/GMs who normally want to play the events they volunteer to run prior to running them.


Gerry R.