Hey everyone, I'm a first time poster but a long time lurker.

I'm running a campaign in Hong Kong and I have a few questions:

1. Are there any good map making programs around for Shadowrun?
2. My group consists of a human face adept, a drake chaos magician and a vampire infiltrator. Seeing as how none of them can really spare the Karma for non-magical purposes and the rules on agents are fragging impenetrable, how should I go about the Matrix with them?
3. Finally, given that two of the 'runners are dual-natured, would sub-orbitals and semi-ballistics pose a threat to them?

In case anyone is wondering, we went for a high powered game since ordinarily we play D&D and start from square one.

1. Je ne sais pas! By which I mean, I don't know!

2. Slot the matrix! You're too goddamn magical (as a team) to be bothered by that. With enough astral projecting, spirits, spells and other mojo, what can't you do?

3. Absolutely. You'll get pretty screwed up, I think, but dual-natured things can't stop astrally perceiving, and that's madness.

1) Not sure what you want.

2) I'd agree that just handwave the matrix stuff. The rules have huge issues and I doubt you'll want to fight with them given that nobody wants to focus on it.

3) It's actually worse. Per SM P120 they have their astral form torn apart and they would be very dead at landing.

Vampires are not Dual Natured. Drakes are Dual Natured in Dragon form only.

Well, that's a relief at any rate. I still feel that given the supposed ubiquity of the Natrix in the fluff that the team might need some help there.

Well, there is that....

The fluff is internally contradictory. In addition it often contradicts the rules. The purpose of the game is to have fun. Don't let the fluff stand in your way. Besides, the Matrix makes more sense from a 50,000 ft level than it does when trying to parse the rules down in the weeds.

The Matrix is a way to get things done, but A. you could always just turn down Matrix-heavy jobs, or B. there's 99% of the time another way to get it done. Sure hacking into a database will get you the paydata... but are you sure there isn't a researcher who knows the data? Things like that.

Coincidentally, that's one of the things I dislike about magic. To beat magic, you're at a massive disadvantage without your own magic (spirits can dematerialize and materialize anywhere they like if you can't see astral forms, no counterspelling, no way through ItNW, etc. etc.)

Its obviously a magic heavy group anyway. Theyre IDEAL for strongly magically oriented runs.

There is a variety of RPG mapping software tools available for purchase, such as MapTool from RPGTools.net but most tend to be designed for fantasy settings or space sci-fi so you have to get creative for a modern or near-future setting like SR. There are some downloadable .pdf products like those from 12 to Midnight. Of course these all cost money.

Free alternatives include Google maps, google image searches for "floor plan" or "blueprint", searching this forum with similar keyword, Floorplanner.com, RPG MapShare, or the Cartographer's Guild but in any of these cases you gotta work with what you get.

Brilliant! Floorplanner looks like exactly what I was looking for! Thanks a bunch. And to be honest, I'll probably take the adivice given here and alter my campaign to be more magic-centric. They're still finishing their characters so they'll never know. Thanks everyone.

Heh, my first advice would be "don't allow 550BP characters your first time out."

I'm kidding, of course. If those are the characters they want to play, they certainly need those BP. Here are some thoughts for you:



Personally, I avoid relying overly much on maps. The Shadowrun rules do include some relatively abstract movement rules and such, but I find that the game runs much more smoothly if you focus not on visual representation, but on what the characters are actually trying to achieve. I know that sounds weird, so let me give you my favorite example of this.

Situation: Dark night on a busy pier where lots of shipping occurs.

Now, do I spend a bunch of time looking up a suitable map, or drawing one? Nope. What I do when combat breaks out, then?

Example fight: A small team of security guards that the 'runners' intel didn't mention has caught them, and it has escalated into combat.

Player A: I run right and take cover behind a shipping crate!

Examine for a second what this player is actually asking for, tactically. They want the cover bonus (aka penalty for the attacker's pool). So do I need to look at a map and find out if there's a shipping container? Nope, it's a busy pier, so those are likely to be scattered all over the place. What the player is doing is thinking tactically and creatively, so I reward that: BAM, they have a shipping container to hide behind. The guy shooting at him now has a tougher time.

Player B: Is there any kind of drone or anything nearby, maybe a remote controlled forklift that I could run a guard over with?

Again, no need for a map, you just apply reason, and more importantly, you reward the player for being creative.

GM:Yup, (remember, busy pier) you scan around and find the node of a container carrier drone.

And yeah, you get to do this for your NPCs too.

Anyway, enough rambling on that. Obviously this lends itself to one style of play, and maybe not so much to others. If you do want a highly tactical, movement rules type game, it might not work as well for you. Whatever gets your players into the game is the best way.



The stuff for agents, while a bit daunting at first, really isn't that bad. Basically, and especially if your players are using them as almost an NPC hacker, think of it as exactly that: an NPC that does hacking for the players. How far out you want to abstract it depends on how important it is to you, your players, and your game. You can go all the way from following the Agent and Hacking rules to the letter to waving your hand and saying "your Agent comes back with the information you wanted." It all depends on what you guys decide you want.

You can also use contacts to solve this issue. Stat up, look up, or just wing an NPC hacker that one or all of the characters knows. You can even use this as a resource management tool, since hackers typically aren't working for free.


Nothing to add on magic in a suborbital at the moment. I'll post it if I do think of anything.

And good luck!

My advice, have one of them take a hacker as a contact, then just handwave to matrix bits. He probably wouldn't be willing to go on runs with the team, but it would be reasonable for him to run overwatch from another location as per earlier editions of SR. It's not exactly proper for 4th ed. but you're not really going into enough depth in the matrix for it to matter.