I'm going to run a Shadowrun game come this December. However, I have a problem. I've never ran a shadowrun game before and I've never been in one either. I've been in and ran other games such as GURPS, D&D and the D20 systems but my lack of experience is going to hit me unless I do my homework. And since I'm going back to school and work full time in two months I want to have a good portion of it prepared due to lack of time until the appointed time in December when I do the GM'ing thing.
So GM's, players, I need your help. Do you have anything to tell me that I could benefit from, no matter how big or small? A certain way to run a game, how to generate characters quickly, things I should be aware of while running the game, etc. Anything really.
I'm great at writing, but the system is just a bit new and foreign to me.
Thanks in advance.
Full Version: New GM
How much have you *played* Shadowrun?
Rule #1: Be Patient.
Even if you have experienced players, you're going to get arguements that start with :"That's not how (other GM's name) did it!" or "Are you SURE you know what you're doing?" or "But I read in (novel) that (something like, all Mr. Johnsons are dragons in human form), that's how it is!!"
You're going to get nagged, nit-picked, griped & b*tched at, but take it all in stride.
My suggestion is find out when the next SR game is & sit in on it. Talk to the other players and especially to the GM for the game. See how they do things. Take notes.
As for your game, make sure all those involved are avilable, or at least have someone ply their character if they can't make it.
Have at least TWO sceduled breaks for food, bathroom, smoking, ect.
Set up a trash can or trash bag for anything that has to be disposed of. Everybody who plays is responsible for a clean play-space.
No food or smoking at the game table. Nobody wants to handle sticky dice (yes, I know how dirty that sounds) nor try to tell the GM what the character is doing while hacking & coughing.
Be respectful of your host/hostess, because most game-stores don't have an area set aside for gaming & you may be playing at someone's house.
That's all I can think of for now.
Even if you have experienced players, you're going to get arguements that start with :"That's not how (other GM's name) did it!" or "Are you SURE you know what you're doing?" or "But I read in (novel) that (something like, all Mr. Johnsons are dragons in human form), that's how it is!!"
You're going to get nagged, nit-picked, griped & b*tched at, but take it all in stride.
My suggestion is find out when the next SR game is & sit in on it. Talk to the other players and especially to the GM for the game. See how they do things. Take notes.
As for your game, make sure all those involved are avilable, or at least have someone ply their character if they can't make it.
Have at least TWO sceduled breaks for food, bathroom, smoking, ect.
Set up a trash can or trash bag for anything that has to be disposed of. Everybody who plays is responsible for a clean play-space.
No food or smoking at the game table. Nobody wants to handle sticky dice (yes, I know how dirty that sounds) nor try to tell the GM what the character is doing while hacking & coughing.
Be respectful of your host/hostess, because most game-stores don't have an area set aside for gaming & you may be playing at someone's house.
That's all I can think of for now.
I believe that I mentioned in the post that I haven't. However, I own quite a few of the books both old and new and have read roughly seven of the Shadowrun books (the ones that were suggested to me) including the Wolf and Raven short stories, some of the newer SR books as well as one or two from ten or so years ago. I feel that I have a decent grasp of the world in general, I just need some pointers.
I've been infatuated with the Shadowrun series since I was a kid and it came out for the Genesis. I grew up and learned that there was a whole pen and paper game and plenty of books.
I'm not new to DM'ing. I'm new to DM'ing shadowrun. And it is a lot less straightforward than your average D&D campaign. You have to deal with the mundane, the matrix and the astral sometimes all at once. Lots of conflicting interests at the individual, street, corp and megacorp level. How to deal with a technomancer/hacker when the rest of the party isn't into the matrix. Writing the more technical aspects that a GM has to that the players never see. All of that. It is a level of complication I'm not used to.
My group runs other games once a week Sunday nights. I've been playing and sometimes DM'ing for that group for nearly five years now and have DM'ed a sucessful campaign in D20 Apocalypse that lasted about five months. So again, don't need help managing a group. Just the game.
I've been infatuated with the Shadowrun series since I was a kid and it came out for the Genesis. I grew up and learned that there was a whole pen and paper game and plenty of books.
I'm not new to DM'ing. I'm new to DM'ing shadowrun. And it is a lot less straightforward than your average D&D campaign. You have to deal with the mundane, the matrix and the astral sometimes all at once. Lots of conflicting interests at the individual, street, corp and megacorp level. How to deal with a technomancer/hacker when the rest of the party isn't into the matrix. Writing the more technical aspects that a GM has to that the players never see. All of that. It is a level of complication I'm not used to.
My group runs other games once a week Sunday nights. I've been playing and sometimes DM'ing for that group for nearly five years now and have DM'ed a sucessful campaign in D20 Apocalypse that lasted about five months. So again, don't need help managing a group. Just the game.
First things first...I'd suggest talking to the group and finding out which archetypes will be played. Our group, and some others that I have read about here, doesn't use the matrix. The matrix is cool....really freaking cool....in theory. When played, I've found the matrix to be a time-consuming one man show with an utterly predictable outcome. Maybe Unwired fixes this, but we've been so happy using NPC hackers that we have zero motivation to change things. And I like hackers.
So, yeah, in short, see if you can talk your group into using NPC hackers. Then you don't have to learn the matrix. Also, at least to start, I wouldn't bother trying to make a persistent enemy that the PC's will face regularly. I haven't been able to build a single character that can stand up to a party. Maybe I should be trying cyberzombies for this...
And the complex landscape of motivations and organizations, i.e. gangs, megacorps, runners, etc, is actually a storytellers dream come true. You don't really have to know what your story is to have a good game. Everyone's constantly lying, and there's always somebody powerful who has a good reason to want the PC's dead. Usually several somebodies. Since the PC's usually know about 10% of what's going on, I often only make up 10% of a story and pretend something uber mysterious is going on that I may or may not reveal at the very end of the campaign. Try it. Have a Johnson show up, offer a ton of money for something in a black box, then double cross the PC's halfway through the mission for no reason. Who does he work for? What's in the box? Why'd he double-cross the PC's? Who knows, who cares? You can let those questions go unanswered, or be the basis for an entire campaign.
Oh, yeah. And all of your enemies need something to protect them from the party's mage, or he will tear them to shreds.
So, yeah, in short, see if you can talk your group into using NPC hackers. Then you don't have to learn the matrix. Also, at least to start, I wouldn't bother trying to make a persistent enemy that the PC's will face regularly. I haven't been able to build a single character that can stand up to a party. Maybe I should be trying cyberzombies for this...
And the complex landscape of motivations and organizations, i.e. gangs, megacorps, runners, etc, is actually a storytellers dream come true. You don't really have to know what your story is to have a good game. Everyone's constantly lying, and there's always somebody powerful who has a good reason to want the PC's dead. Usually several somebodies. Since the PC's usually know about 10% of what's going on, I often only make up 10% of a story and pretend something uber mysterious is going on that I may or may not reveal at the very end of the campaign. Try it. Have a Johnson show up, offer a ton of money for something in a black box, then double cross the PC's halfway through the mission for no reason. Who does he work for? What's in the box? Why'd he double-cross the PC's? Who knows, who cares? You can let those questions go unanswered, or be the basis for an entire campaign.
Oh, yeah. And all of your enemies need something to protect them from the party's mage, or he will tear them to shreds.
1) Run the game by RAW. Various house-rules are highly recommended by me & others, but starting off the game your first time with such rules is poor for learning the game.
2) Take your time to make sure you do everything right. Count all the dice pool modifiers, etc. If you do not understand how something works, take the time to look it up. After you get the hang of the system, feel free to 'wing it', but until you know it, make sure you learn it correctly the first time.
3) Have everyone begin play with one of the pre-made characters from the book. Play for two sessions, then allow them to create their own characters, keeping any Karma they earned with the pre-made. They may continue playing the pre-made if they choose. Once they create their own characters, they will inevitably forget things, so allow them to make minor adjustments to their characters during the first month. This is not important if the players are experienced with Shadowrun, but still recommended.
2) Take your time to make sure you do everything right. Count all the dice pool modifiers, etc. If you do not understand how something works, take the time to look it up. After you get the hang of the system, feel free to 'wing it', but until you know it, make sure you learn it correctly the first time.
3) Have everyone begin play with one of the pre-made characters from the book. Play for two sessions, then allow them to create their own characters, keeping any Karma they earned with the pre-made. They may continue playing the pre-made if they choose. Once they create their own characters, they will inevitably forget things, so allow them to make minor adjustments to their characters during the first month. This is not important if the players are experienced with Shadowrun, but still recommended.
Just remember that ratings are 1-6 with the occasional 7 or higher thrown in there to throw them off. I also Put in some pretty tough opponents sometimes just to see if they're going to stick around when they're out matched or be smart and run for it.
Something I found to be extremely useful is just playing out a test scene with buddy. Have them roll up a character is they are into it or just grab one of the stock ones. Then just play completely trivial one-offs where you use all the mechanics, have the PC take a shot, calc out the mods, have the defender dodge, then have them soak. Doing this even 2 or 3 times will give you great bench marks. Repeat with summoning and binding, casting a AoE spell, etc. If you want to do matrix (which I would nix for the reason's given) do that too.
It has been many a moon since my first GM'ed shadowrun game... I don't really remember it but I do remember a lot of the bumps and bruises along the way.
First off - the Adventure.
I would highly, highly, highly, suggest the Shadowrun Missions series. They offer excellent pre-packaged content that is generally not too complex, offers good challenges that (most of the time) won't kill your players and (most of the time) will keep them interested if you can improvise a bit. Writing a good Run is considerably more difficult than writing an adventure for any other game. Shadowrun is distinctly non-linear compared to other games and the skills you have developed in writing for, say D&D, will only help you so much in the 6th world.
Second - the Rules.
Make sure that everyone knows that you are a newb at GMing SR4. I imagine that this is understood. If so, make players responsible for knowing in detail the rules that are specific to their characters. Make the Street Samurai know the rules for auto fire, make the mage print out his spells, make the rigger write up his dice pools and programs lists etc. This will save you all a huge amount of time in your first encounters.
Third - Running.
Your biggest challenge in SR4, more so than in any other game I have played, is time management. The ability for characters to hop on a bike and zip down the highway at 150km/hour while chatting with a contact, while the rigger is running surveilance with drones, while the hacker is hacking into highway security cameras, while the mage is astrally percieving all at the same time is an unbeilevable challenge. Learning how to get players to wait in a productive fashion is extremely important. Ask players to write out what they want to do, to outline their tasks and the like, while you work with whatever player is the current focus. Once that is resolved or at least to a stopping point, shift gears to other player(s). If they have been working hard to figure out exactly what they want to do they ought to be focused and ready to go immediately. This can keep the more desultory periods of the game in between main action points from dragging significantly. Learn how to be vague, how to put a player off for a moment, how to lump actions and interests together. Be vague when the results are of little consequence and only one player is active; put a player off for a moment if their action (when held) will result in a group activity; try to find ways to tie all player skills and interests into common goals that can be attacked in a generally unified fashion. It is really, really hard to do well.
Prep for encounters based on what the players are capable of doing. In SR that can be a huge variety of things but sticking to the archetypes in play amongst your group can give you some pretty good ideas as to what you will need to prepare for. If your rigger is on point and really interested in using his drones for everything make sure that you have an idea what kinds of sensors and counter measures are present in any given combat scene. Make sure you have dice pools worked out for an enemy rigger / hacker should there be one. You do not need to play rock-paper-scissors with your group in every encounter but it pays to observe carefully the capabilities of the PCs so that you can keep a scene moving and not sacrifice verisimilitude.
Lastly - Information Management
When the action dies down (as it tends to suddenly do after all the bullets stop flying and the spells are done smoldering) and players are in the midst of legwork your challenges as a GM are probably at their highest. Player disinterest is the main enemy in an SR game during legwork since each character type likely will be calling contacts that only they know or are executing skills that are specific to them. Remember the basic principles of D&D legwork here - clues are only in the game to provide players the next step to take so that they can advance the story, get to the next encounter and otherwise Get To the Good Part ™. You don't have to hand it to players on a silver platter. What I tend to do is diagram out the flow of the adventure and what information is imperative to continue to the next part of the flow. I consider those pieces of information to be "triggers" while the other information are "secondary". Secondary information is helpful things - knowledge about security, a bit of background on a target, the latest street gab about this or that which might come in handy. Trigger information is the kind of info that once players have it, they can progress to the next step. I always make sure that players have at least two routes to any given kind of Trigger information, generally at least one route per kind of character in the game. The mage may be able to do astral forensics, the hacker can run searchbots on arcane newsletters, the sammy can go break some knuckles on a mage that owes him a favor etc. By doing this I can ensure that any player who achieves any supporting information linked to a Trigger can reasonably either execute the necessary skill checks to advance the story or can involve other players who can then make those skill checks.
Go forth and Geek Thy Mages.
- der menkey
"Certainly there is no hunting like the hunting of man and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never really care for anything else thereafter."
~Ernest Hemingway
First off - the Adventure.
I would highly, highly, highly, suggest the Shadowrun Missions series. They offer excellent pre-packaged content that is generally not too complex, offers good challenges that (most of the time) won't kill your players and (most of the time) will keep them interested if you can improvise a bit. Writing a good Run is considerably more difficult than writing an adventure for any other game. Shadowrun is distinctly non-linear compared to other games and the skills you have developed in writing for, say D&D, will only help you so much in the 6th world.
Second - the Rules.
Make sure that everyone knows that you are a newb at GMing SR4. I imagine that this is understood. If so, make players responsible for knowing in detail the rules that are specific to their characters. Make the Street Samurai know the rules for auto fire, make the mage print out his spells, make the rigger write up his dice pools and programs lists etc. This will save you all a huge amount of time in your first encounters.
Third - Running.
Your biggest challenge in SR4, more so than in any other game I have played, is time management. The ability for characters to hop on a bike and zip down the highway at 150km/hour while chatting with a contact, while the rigger is running surveilance with drones, while the hacker is hacking into highway security cameras, while the mage is astrally percieving all at the same time is an unbeilevable challenge. Learning how to get players to wait in a productive fashion is extremely important. Ask players to write out what they want to do, to outline their tasks and the like, while you work with whatever player is the current focus. Once that is resolved or at least to a stopping point, shift gears to other player(s). If they have been working hard to figure out exactly what they want to do they ought to be focused and ready to go immediately. This can keep the more desultory periods of the game in between main action points from dragging significantly. Learn how to be vague, how to put a player off for a moment, how to lump actions and interests together. Be vague when the results are of little consequence and only one player is active; put a player off for a moment if their action (when held) will result in a group activity; try to find ways to tie all player skills and interests into common goals that can be attacked in a generally unified fashion. It is really, really hard to do well.
Prep for encounters based on what the players are capable of doing. In SR that can be a huge variety of things but sticking to the archetypes in play amongst your group can give you some pretty good ideas as to what you will need to prepare for. If your rigger is on point and really interested in using his drones for everything make sure that you have an idea what kinds of sensors and counter measures are present in any given combat scene. Make sure you have dice pools worked out for an enemy rigger / hacker should there be one. You do not need to play rock-paper-scissors with your group in every encounter but it pays to observe carefully the capabilities of the PCs so that you can keep a scene moving and not sacrifice verisimilitude.
Lastly - Information Management
When the action dies down (as it tends to suddenly do after all the bullets stop flying and the spells are done smoldering) and players are in the midst of legwork your challenges as a GM are probably at their highest. Player disinterest is the main enemy in an SR game during legwork since each character type likely will be calling contacts that only they know or are executing skills that are specific to them. Remember the basic principles of D&D legwork here - clues are only in the game to provide players the next step to take so that they can advance the story, get to the next encounter and otherwise Get To the Good Part ™. You don't have to hand it to players on a silver platter. What I tend to do is diagram out the flow of the adventure and what information is imperative to continue to the next part of the flow. I consider those pieces of information to be "triggers" while the other information are "secondary". Secondary information is helpful things - knowledge about security, a bit of background on a target, the latest street gab about this or that which might come in handy. Trigger information is the kind of info that once players have it, they can progress to the next step. I always make sure that players have at least two routes to any given kind of Trigger information, generally at least one route per kind of character in the game. The mage may be able to do astral forensics, the hacker can run searchbots on arcane newsletters, the sammy can go break some knuckles on a mage that owes him a favor etc. By doing this I can ensure that any player who achieves any supporting information linked to a Trigger can reasonably either execute the necessary skill checks to advance the story or can involve other players who can then make those skill checks.
Go forth and Geek Thy Mages.
- der menkey
"Certainly there is no hunting like the hunting of man and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never really care for anything else thereafter."
~Ernest Hemingway
Since no one has asked yet, do you have a copy of the Cheat Sheets yet?
1)I pre-roll body tests for the enemies the pc's will face, inculding body armor and subtract 2-3 successes when armor piercing rounds are used. It saves alot of time.
2) Trust in the rules. If something doesn't seem right or very unbalanced, it's probably becuase you have not inculded something else from the rules. At least, I found this to be very true when I first started playing\gm'ing. Things like astral projection can seem very unbalanced until you read some of the restrictions like warding and that you cannot go underground while doing it. (hence very high security places will have the really good stuff underground.)
3)Like someone said above, have the players learn the rules concerning what their character does. It's very good advice for shadowrun, becuase it is a very...comprehensive...system. Everyone will start to pick up those little things as you go.
4) Keep the adventures simple. There are so many options for just about every archtype in the game that the players (if they are anything like mine) will complicate things all on their own.
5) Mages are can very easily get out of hand. It should be the second section you are completly familiar with after combat. Think D&D except ther are no class saving throw bonus's unless ther is a mage around. You defend with only your attribute vs alot of magic. Remember line of sight, mages need it for spells. Careful with spirits, they are immune to most of the weapons runners commonly have on them so it's ok to keep the force low.
6) not sure if it's worth mentioning, it may have just been a bonhead move on my part but pay attention to the availability at chargen. Not only is a lot of the really juicy stuff unavailable but it also takes away from character advancement in the sense that they will not have to wait\build toward the good EQ.
Thats all I can think of for now, I would recomend running through some things like combat, spiritis, magic, hacking etc. with one of the players (especially if they know the system) before playing. Once familiar things tend tobe easy to remember, but if you haven't run thourgh the stuff you will be looking in the book for all sorts of little things...how many bullets are fired on a short busrt again? What is the opposed dice pool when summonming? Short bursts are a simple or complex? Whats the penalties for full darkness with thermo vision? Y'know, those little things that you don't really think about until you use it in combat.
2) Trust in the rules. If something doesn't seem right or very unbalanced, it's probably becuase you have not inculded something else from the rules. At least, I found this to be very true when I first started playing\gm'ing. Things like astral projection can seem very unbalanced until you read some of the restrictions like warding and that you cannot go underground while doing it. (hence very high security places will have the really good stuff underground.)
3)Like someone said above, have the players learn the rules concerning what their character does. It's very good advice for shadowrun, becuase it is a very...comprehensive...system. Everyone will start to pick up those little things as you go.
4) Keep the adventures simple. There are so many options for just about every archtype in the game that the players (if they are anything like mine) will complicate things all on their own.
5) Mages are can very easily get out of hand. It should be the second section you are completly familiar with after combat. Think D&D except ther are no class saving throw bonus's unless ther is a mage around. You defend with only your attribute vs alot of magic. Remember line of sight, mages need it for spells. Careful with spirits, they are immune to most of the weapons runners commonly have on them so it's ok to keep the force low.
6) not sure if it's worth mentioning, it may have just been a bonhead move on my part but pay attention to the availability at chargen. Not only is a lot of the really juicy stuff unavailable but it also takes away from character advancement in the sense that they will not have to wait\build toward the good EQ.
Thats all I can think of for now, I would recomend running through some things like combat, spiritis, magic, hacking etc. with one of the players (especially if they know the system) before playing. Once familiar things tend tobe easy to remember, but if you haven't run thourgh the stuff you will be looking in the book for all sorts of little things...how many bullets are fired on a short busrt again? What is the opposed dice pool when summonming? Short bursts are a simple or complex? Whats the penalties for full darkness with thermo vision? Y'know, those little things that you don't really think about until you use it in combat.
You are probably going to kill a character, possibly several. This is ok. This is how the game is designed actually. Characters are extremely fragile. This isn't DnD where after a few levels it's difficult for anything short of a dragon to take you out (exageration). This is a game where high caliber weapons and high explosives and high force spells mean death. Talk to your players about this fact. If they are uncomfortable with playing that way, there are some suggestions in the Main Book for making the game more cinematic or easier on the players. They are solid if you use a couple. Be wary of using more than 2 or 3, because they can overrun the danger. Shadowrun is often about surviving by the skin of your teeth not (super)heroic characters. Also, I'll second the advice of a few test runs. Using the mechanics is the only real way to get familiar with them. Oh, and good luck 
I'm not afraid of killing characters but at the same time I tend to base campaigns around characters. So while I can kill one or two I can't wipe a party without scrapping the game as I know it. I'm going to encourage them to have at least a two in edge because I won't save them unless rolls are going spectacularly bad. So while I won't save them I will let them save themselves through burning edge. Plus I get to fuck with them a bit because burning edge isn't exactly a get out of jail free ticket. Edge also helps me a lot in the event of a party wipe because of course, miracles do happen. You may get third degree burns all over your body, get your toes chewed off by a ghoul with a foot fetish or get possessed and dumped off in a corn field after a spirit has a romp with your body for a month, but they're alive.
1. Have fun!
2. Get yourself a copy of cheat sheets.
3. Every time we start a new game we something like what was mentioned above use some stock npc's or fresh pc's and
pit them against each other in a faux scenario to get them used to the rules and there characters abilities.
4. For first run use a "mission" or other published adventure to get started. I'm a stream of thought sort of GM always
worked best running on the fly but for others having notes or just taking time to prep is a huge help. (Although I find
the old adage true, if you plan it they will break it.)
5. Oh and have fun! Stay loose and just fix things as they arise don't worry about keeping rules tight. Make notes as
problems arise and do your research between games.
2. Get yourself a copy of cheat sheets.
3. Every time we start a new game we something like what was mentioned above use some stock npc's or fresh pc's and
pit them against each other in a faux scenario to get them used to the rules and there characters abilities.
4. For first run use a "mission" or other published adventure to get started. I'm a stream of thought sort of GM always
worked best running on the fly but for others having notes or just taking time to prep is a huge help. (Although I find
the old adage true, if you plan it they will break it.)
5. Oh and have fun! Stay loose and just fix things as they arise don't worry about keeping rules tight. Make notes as
problems arise and do your research between games.
I found it helpful to have the PCs been build already some weeks before the original game start, so I could get used to them and prepare the adventures according to their strengths and weaknesses. For example if you have someone skilled for explosives in your group there should be some scenarios where it is necessary to use them, because if you do not give him the opportunity he will use them anyway, but probably in a less suitable situation...
It is also really useful to roll some combats for practice to get used to modifiers and damage and have the modifiers which will be important for that adventure at hand.
Further I decided to give my group some group contacts in the beginning in order to let them do some of their legwork together.
It is not that difficult to write a good run on your own, but keep it simple in the beginning of your GMing. Like "go there, kill all, return". It is ok for the beginning and you can advance in complexity as soon as you feel comfortable.
Have at least the BBB always at hand. You can not know everything, so make sure you can find it quickly when in need.
Prepare a chart for initiatives including space for your NPCs.
Do not be afraid to cheat. If you recognize that your NPCs are to weak and get killed too easily, let them just roll some more dice on damage resistance or let them have a higher damage output. As long as it is all behind your GM screen, they`ll never know
Have a GM screen!
Ask them for feedback after having played some sessions.
It is also really useful to roll some combats for practice to get used to modifiers and damage and have the modifiers which will be important for that adventure at hand.
Further I decided to give my group some group contacts in the beginning in order to let them do some of their legwork together.
It is not that difficult to write a good run on your own, but keep it simple in the beginning of your GMing. Like "go there, kill all, return". It is ok for the beginning and you can advance in complexity as soon as you feel comfortable.
Have at least the BBB always at hand. You can not know everything, so make sure you can find it quickly when in need.
Prepare a chart for initiatives including space for your NPCs.
Do not be afraid to cheat. If you recognize that your NPCs are to weak and get killed too easily, let them just roll some more dice on damage resistance or let them have a higher damage output. As long as it is all behind your GM screen, they`ll never know
Have a GM screen!
Ask them for feedback after having played some sessions.
Don't forget about the Quick Start rules. They have a GM version and a player version so you can even distribute them to the others. They give a really good intro.
Also, you could check out the On the Run module. There are (somewhat valid) critiques of the storyline of the module, but it does a good job of providing a variety of different situations into one module and provides citations back to SR4 when it discusses the rules so it's very handy when you're trying to get everything organized.
Also, you could check out the On the Run module. There are (somewhat valid) critiques of the storyline of the module, but it does a good job of providing a variety of different situations into one module and provides citations back to SR4 when it discusses the rules so it's very handy when you're trying to get everything organized.
The previous posters give great advice. I'd add to their advice to grow into the rules by using only certain facets of the game until they are understood pretty well.
Specifically I'd suggest starting off with no magic for a few sessions then introduce some light magic, then grow into the other facets in kind.
Your players need to learn as much as you do after all.
For the matrix just hand wave it until you are ready. It needs to be a part of the game but an NPC hacker or the classic "Roll your hacking skill 3 times..." to get around all the crunch of them can get you by for now.
Allowing plenty of redesigns by players so their characters dont make bad mistakes in their build (like my first SR4 character that had no Perception skill, oops!) you should be able to discover the game together in a fruitful way.
Lastly, if at all possible I'd suggest *playing* in some of the "Shadowrun: Missions" games hosted by Catalyst GM's. As introductions go they are pretty darned great.
Specifically I'd suggest starting off with no magic for a few sessions then introduce some light magic, then grow into the other facets in kind.
Your players need to learn as much as you do after all.
For the matrix just hand wave it until you are ready. It needs to be a part of the game but an NPC hacker or the classic "Roll your hacking skill 3 times..." to get around all the crunch of them can get you by for now.
Allowing plenty of redesigns by players so their characters dont make bad mistakes in their build (like my first SR4 character that had no Perception skill, oops!) you should be able to discover the game together in a fruitful way.
Lastly, if at all possible I'd suggest *playing* in some of the "Shadowrun: Missions" games hosted by Catalyst GM's. As introductions go they are pretty darned great.
If you are a good GURPS/D&D/<Game system X> GM, you will be a good Shadowrun GM before long.
The main skills you need as a GM are a mix of planning and improvisation, and keeping the game fun. Knowing the rules is the easy part, and will come in time.
+1 for Wasabi's idea about no mages and no hackers.
The main skills you need as a GM are a mix of planning and improvisation, and keeping the game fun. Knowing the rules is the easy part, and will come in time.
+1 for Wasabi's idea about no mages and no hackers.
Another +1 for limiting the game world to start. With SR's multifaceted reality, it can be very difficult to inject a game with everything all at once. In addition, I would stick to SR4 for a while (make sure you have the current printing or review the errata at shadowrun4.com) and avoid the supplements* for the moment. Once you understand the basic rules, then started phasing in the supplements as you need them.
* - the supplements are Street Magic, Arsenal, Augmentation, and Unwired.
* - the supplements are Street Magic, Arsenal, Augmentation, and Unwired.
What about starting all players as mundanes with no cyber/bioware. Just normal people who have to start their lives over for what ever reason... their corp got taken over in a hostile action, a war broke out, etc. Then as they grow, so can their PCs, this one goes in for a vat job, that one wakes up a rat shaman, etc.
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