As I understand it, there are two rules to shadowrunning:

1) Have some indispensable rules that you always follow.

2) You will have to break them.


So, what rules do you, as shadowrunners, follow? Here are a few of mine.

1) Don't work for Aztechnology. They have more blood mages than you can shake a stick at and they have a reputation for backstabbing runners. If you do take a run from the Azzies, make the meet/dropoff as annonomys and as hermetically sealed as possible. (Go coldsim via matrix, if you can.) If you leave behind some hair samples, then their bloodmages can ritual magic you at their lesiure. Well after the run, so that no one figures it was them that double crossed you. (Had a GM pull this.) Admittedly, all the other corps can do it too, but they are less likely to. Aztech has the recourses and the rep for this kinda stuff.

2) Don't work for Saeder-Krupp. Seriously, a dragon runs the company. You want to stay as far away from that mess as possible.

3) Talk to your Fixer(s). Take them out to drink (if they like that) or whatever. Get on their good side. A Fixer who likes you is less likely to backstab you for cash. Yeah, I know that it would hurt a fixer's rep, but some of them will take a huge sack of nuyen over rep.

4) Safehouses. Have at least one, tied to a separate Fake Sin. Learned this one the hard way. A hacker buddy stopped me from walking into my apt, then remote-triggered the booby-trapped firebomb. Make sure your safehouse has some backup gear. Nothing much, a couple guns, some ammo, whatever.

No hurting fluffy bunnies or kids.. thats it.. =)

Never betray the client, for any reason.

1) Watch your back,
2) Shoot straight,
3) Conserve ammo,
4) And never, ever, cut a deal with a dragon.

Well usualy my rules are.

1- Keep the body count to the minimum.

2- Try to avoid confrontation when possible.

3- No wetwork, no structural hits that cause enormous casualities, nothing against children.

4- Never betry the client, and make sure the client doesn't betry you.

5- Keep your friends close and dear (take care of contacts, cultivate the relationship, don't betry them, particulary the fixer).

6- No pissing contests.

7- protect your identity.

8- Always have a contingency plan for everything, form the run to what happens if your fake SIN gets burned.

9- Don't pool resources in a single place (redundancy is usefull when in need of backup tools).

10- No working for the Azzies (it's worse than woking for gouls), if possible no working for SK (there's a certain dragon that makes me nervous), absolutely no working for Yakashima (most of my runners are metas so Yakashima hiring me is probably a set up, and even if it's not for they are racists), no working for extremists (religious, political, racial, whatever), if possible no work for MCT (they come close to SK).

11- Try to stay out of dragon's way.

12- Don't crash the matrix.

13- Remember to wash before meeting Mr. Johnson.

Rigger rules:
1. Don't let your fuel/charge go bellow 1/2 (you don't know when you will get a chance to fill up/charge next).
2. Three lefts is a right, anyone else doing the same is following you.
3. Paint scrapes are more expensive then worn tires (never stay around for the firefight)
4. Hope for the best, plan for the worst
5. 1,000 in armour today saves 100,000 in hospital bills tomorrow
6. Why send a human to do a drones job? (I like getting shot as much as the next person)
7. Do your homework, once a backstabber, always a backstabber
8. Learn from your mistakes and the mistakes of others
9. Never screw over your mechanic
10. Tip your breakfast waitress

1. Pillage, then burn.
2. Close air support covereth a multitude of sins.
3. If violence wasn’t your last resort, you failed to resort to enough of it.
4. Mockery and derision have their place. Usually, it's in the grave.
5. Never turn your back on an enemy.
6. Sometimes the only way out is through a wall.
7. Everything is air-droppable at least once.
8. A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head.
9. Do unto others.
10. Your name is in the mouth of others: be sure it has teeth.
11. Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Take his fish away and tell him he's lucky just to be alive, and he'll figure out how to catch another one for you to take tomorrow.
12. Don't be afraid to be the first to resort to violence.
13. The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy. No more. No less.
14. A little trust goes a long way. The less you use, the further you'll go.
15. Only cheaters prosper.
16. If you’re leaving scorch-marks, you need a bigger gun.
17. That which does not kill you has made a tactical error.
18. When the going gets tough, the tough call for close air support.
19. There is no 'overkill.' There is only 'open fire' and 'time to reload.'
20. Just because it's easy for you doesn't mean it can't be hard on Mr. Johnson.

Johnsons generally don't advertise who they work for, so rules like this are really pretty meaningless. Rules about who not to run against might be better followed.


The best Fixers don't want to be anyones friend. Really. They want to be neutral and having a Loyalty above 3 to a Fixer of any importance should be rare. Besides, if you can try to buy their friendship, so can Johnson - the other side of the working relationship - and Johnson has much deeper pockets (and not just in money).

We have Fixers in our games who became friends of the runners after a spell. it's not necessarily like that in every game. We have some fixers who are quite close to certain characters; others, simply just business. Tables may vary with that.

As for rules...hmm. I guess they vary from character to character. My current guy, Wraith:

-Wetwork doesn't make you a monster. There are people out there who have never taken a life that are far more monstrous.
-Know when to walk away.
-Sitting with your back to the wall is a good idea. But there's only so much wall to go around. Someone has to bite the bullet now and again.
-Soy-scotch is not scotch. Don't let anyone tell you differently.
-If that little something inside tells you not to get involved, then maybe you should listen to it. On the other hand, if that little something nags at you a bit...perhaps it's time for you to step in.
-Learn to trust all of your senses. You might not have one or more of them forever.
-If it sounds a bit too good to be true...yeah, you know the rest.
-One meaningful fight is far more exhilarating than ten pointless ones.
-Keep your safehouse just exactly that-safe. Splurging a bit of extra security isn't a bad idea. Naturally, never let anyone know where you actually live.

In Total agreement with Matsci...and Schlock Mercenaries which is where it was taken from

Rules For Running

1. Always have a plan. Improvising on the fly can be detrimental for your health.
2. Always have a backup plan. They may suck, but its better than getting geeked.
3. Never skimp on equipment, you may save nuyen that way, but you'll never know if that 3rd hand Predator has a misaligned barrel.
4. Keep an eye out for your enemies, save the other eye for your friends.
5. Do unto others before others do unto you.
6. Semper Paratus, always be prepared, pack as much gear as you need, and then add what you may need ... just in case.

1) If it is still moving, it needs another round to the skull.

1) Sneaky wins more fights than brawn. Because that Security guy can't defend against something he can't see.

2) Don't draw your weapon unless absolutely necessary. If you can do a run without having to fire a shot then you'll be doing a LOT better than the guns blazing crowd.

3) Don't kill people (unless absolutely necessary). If the corp sec guys know you're not trying to kill them then they'll be a LOT happier with you.

-Remember the mission. If your job is to kidnap someone and their dog is beelining for the woodline, well... buhbye fluffy and hellllloooo tranq patch and biomonitor.
-Never work for someone who has screwed you no matter the pay or threats.
-If someone shows you a gun, let them hear yours.
-The matrix is full of ninjas and skulkers. Be a sammie in the matrix and rep will follow.
-Spend edge to go first. Its the cornerstone of 'shoot first, shoot often.'
-Suppressive fire is a suggestion to get your head down. Using Narcojet+DMSO Capsule rounds to lay down suppressive fire is like saying "pretty please with a cherry on top."

1) Work for Aztechnology. Probably the only real good guys left; they give us Stuffer Shack, and Stuffer Shack gives us meaning.

2) Work for Saeder-Krupp. They've got the cash, they've got the gear, and it's just a few contracted crimes between you and it.

3) Stab anyone in the back if it gets you more money, and if you don't make sure no one finds out. A traitor is just par for the course, but someone who had the opportunity to get more cred and didn't take it is someone you should kill on sight, not risk doing business with.

4) Any enemy left alive is a potential enemy for life. Any enemy left cold on the ground is a problem for the morgue, not you. Leave no witnesses.

~J

1) Stay alive.

2) Get paid.

Don't make it more complicated than it needs to be.

Always, ALWAYS, get more ass than my team-mates after the run.

Before you put a bullet in that poor corpsec guard's head, remember that you might be working for these guys next week and employers don't like it when you damage the bottom line.

1) Locks keep honest men honest.
2) You can't trust more than two people at any one time.
3) Be polite. Be efficient. Have a plan to kill everyone you meet.

Rule 1) There are no rules, do whatever you need to win.

1. The mage should never look like a mage.
2. Everybody on the same page, the first option is stun damage, if that doesn't work then we go lethal.
3. If you really want to know who that Johnson works for, follow him home on the astral.
4. Summoning a spirit with the concealment power is cheap for the benefit you get.
5. Never use a spirit for spell binding, its just not worth it.
6. If it's you or it the spirit will be back from a headshot, you won't. Never tell a spirit this.
7. If the mage isn't back in his body after (magic -1.5 hours) break out the mortar/assault cannon and start knocking down walls.
8. A force 6 spirit of man with the innate spell heal is probably going to cast it better then you are able to.
9. The mages first job is to keep the team out of a fire fight, his second job is to keep himself alive during one.
10. You can't do it all, that's what friends/subcontractors are for.

They work for any situation, really.

1. You're running for a reason. Don't lose sight of that. If you want to get rich, make sure you're making money. If you're not in it for wealth, don't get distracted by someone waving a credstick around.

2. If it pays too well, Johnson is either stupid or not planning to pay you. The latter will get you killed. The former will also get you killed when Johnson lets the target know who's coming or who came.

3. You are a professional (or you'd better be). Do your job and do it well.

4. Revenge is a low-margin business. Making a point, on the other hand, is necessary if you don't want to need to take revenge in the future.

5. Murphy's Law. You can count on it breaking, squeaking, or exploding at the worst possible time. Have a backup plan, backup equipment, and above all a backup escape route.

The mage can look like a mage, if he can take the damage or if the damage can't take him. A friend's SR3 PC druid had Immunity to Normal Weapons and Regeneration. She cast 1 spell to announce the fact, put all of her spell pool in Counterspelling and waited. "Geek the mage first" backfires on the sec team because they are all wasting ammo and time shooting at her, while the rest of our PCs took them out.

1) Make sure the payment will happen
2) Don't trust your team to be subtle
3) If its in my way, a roadmaster w/ramming plate at full speed tends to kill it...
4) Get paid
5) OTHER people should be the ones to get shot
6) Cover is your friend
7) Narcojet/Slab are awesome
Make sure you get paid

1. Runtime is worktime not playtime.
2. Let, I repeat, LET the techies do their job- a rushed techie leads to a bad job bad jobs lead to slow painful agonising death.
3. Dont piss off the hacker or you may find yourself looking like a furry, with no money.
4. Dont screw over the fixer/johnson - if they screw you remember one big fuckoff bloodbath and it wont happen again.
5. You take the job you do the job, anything elde you deserve what you get.
6. No plan survives first contact with a group of shadowrunners, loose guidelines might.
7. No one ever says "i wish i brought LESS ammo"
8. Unarmed combat is not only useful, it is necassery.
9. The elf dies first.

No freebies

1. Paranoia is not a mental health problem but a sign of professionalism
2. Have a smuggler friend who specializes in smuggling people out of town....FAR out of town
3. Save your Nuyen, do not buy that awesome next big purchase that you don't NEED, save up until you can afford it twice
4. Take only what you are paid to take.

Just because you think someone is following you, doesn't mean it isn't true.

1. Don't get caught unless it's part of the plan.

Everything else varies from character to character.