Hey Folks,

Sorry to intrude with complete unawareness.

I was briefly into Shadowrun back in first and second edition. At the time I couldn't find anyone in my community to play, and I walked away from the game (and role-playing) for decades.

I've come back and have been running some pretty active DnD games lately. In my new community, however, there are a lot of people just aching to play some Shadowrun.

I find I still like the concept after all these years, and I've been fortunate enough to have been gifted some 4th Edition materials.

Here's the deal.. I don't feel up to the challenge of making a credible campaign from scratch, especially the first time out the gate. Is there a quality published campaign on the market? I went to Catalyst Labs website and they have something called "Emergence" which looks like a "campaign in a box", but the description doesn't give me enough details to be sure.

I really don't remember much about the previous editions (which might be a plus, because I don't bring any baggage with me), so I'm really looking for something 4th edition based. SR Missions look okay, but I'm hoping for something with an integrated storyline, and those appear to be a string of stand alone adventures.

Sorry to bring my lack of knowledge to your board, but it just seemed the easiest and fastest way to find out for sure was just to ask this community.

Thanks in advance for your help!

emergence isn't really a campaign book. it's an event book, and it has lots of stuff you could design an adventure around, but it is not in and of itself a campaign.

shadowrun missions are both connected and not. that is, there are a few different plotlines (so to speak) scattered throughout the missions, and so certain missions are related to certain other missions, a few are more-or-less standalone missions, and a few are tied in with a different set of missions than the first group of related missions.

overall, i would definitely recommend the missions; other than that, there's 1 adventure (but no campaign), and you would have to pay for that 1 adventure, whereas missions are free. and it's hard to compete with free

(that said, if you don't like the missions, iirc Aaron's website has a run or three on it, and i'm pretty sure Knasser's did too, which has now been absorbed into Aaron's website also. you could try those to get you started, then build your own once you feel comfortable?).

Shadowrun Missions are free to download and play. They're pretty basic, from what I've seen so far, but they're a good way to get your feet wet, especially if you're new to 4th ed.

-paws
PS welcome aboard!

Hi and Welcome in the forum!

if you want a campaign with 25 Runs for free, look here.

for Information about Denver (where the campaign plays), look here: Commando Quarterly 1./06

have fun!

cya
Tycho

Thanks folks,

I hadn't realized that the SR Missions could be linked together as an ongoing campaign, but I take it that they can be.

And that was kinda dumb of me anyway, I should trust my own creativity to put some links in between them if I need to anyway...

Anyway, thanks for the hospitality. It was appreciated.

Just as a note, most of the missions adventures are geared toward "running for/against organized crime" than "running for/against corporations." Just a stylistic note.

And one that can be changed easily enough by switching a few names and descriptions.

I suspect the upcoming New York story arc will be much more focused on runs vs. corporations, natch.

-paws

I don't typically run campaigns, but I have a ton of one-off missions for 3rd and 4th Editions (all my notes are typically vague, to allow room for improvization), if you're interested.

You can find them at the site in my signature and my old page. Mybe there's something there you can use as a premise for a campaign, or you can simply put the runners through random one-offs to learn what kind of jobs they prefer doing.

I can also recommend the SR Missions. They serve as a good introductory campaign for new players.

SR13

SR's really moved more towards the 'event book' rather than modules, recently. They give you all of the background info, a timeline, some major events, and then a handful of adventure seeds that will allow you to sort of 'follow the dotted line'. Personally, I prefer this to one big old 'mega-module'.

If you're looking for adventures, and don't mind doing some rules conversion, there's almost always old 1st edition stuff on Ebay, and there's a ton of downloadable home brew stuff only a google search away.

As for the Missions, I really like them. They're great in a pinch if I haven't had too much time to prepare, and there's enough story there to make them flow together pretty seamlessly.