My campaigns first session starts tommorow. The campaign will be based in New Orleans, and the beginning time frame is during Mardi Gras. The players have never played SR before, and this is my first time with the players. I can't figure out a good way for them to get used to the rules without them flipping out and killing a crowd of people. They are very eager to use their new trolls with autocannons! Weren't we all the first time we played?

The only idea I have so far is having them get hired to act as the Mr. Johnson(s) for another team, because the real Mr. J is too intimidated t do it himself.

Anyone else have some good get-together idea?

Maybe they're all in town for the festival and a string of brutal police murders is being perpetrated. For one reason or another, they get picked up for "questioning" and end up in the same paddy wagon. However, on the way to the station, something happens and they get free (probably killing the cops in the wagon, too). Knowing that they're going to be blamed, they run for it. The heat gets on pretty quickly, and they have to stick together for survival.

Somehow, they need to find the real killer and/or escape the city. The real killer is probably a corrupt Petro Voodoo Houngan (Baron Samedi worshiper, maybe) who is setting the PCs up to take the fall for his crimes as part of a macrebe prank. While they flee the city or look for him, he makes certain that the cops are always just one step behind the PCs.

I'd be careful of giving them actual criminal records, etc, but it could still be quite fun.

Maybe you can let them go nuts on the first run... especially if you tell them before hand that you are going to run this one a little more loosely so everyone can get used to the rules. [edit] i.e. what D-Mage said [/edit]

The Mardi Gras background can make it difficult for the police to respond to incidents in congested areas. I was down there when a huge guy got into a fight on the street - everyone congested around. When he was done with him he picked someone out of the crowd who had said something, and then another, and another. Everyone nearby was trying to back away - everyone a few rows back was trying to surge forward to see the action. I was above the crowd and could see police trying to get through the crowd and failing.

If the guy had just chilled and walked away, he would have never been caught. Instead, he walked around cheering for himself between victims. After about 5-10 minutes the police arrived and beat him mercilessly.

This might give your runners the excuse to get into a big ugly fight and possibly get away with it? If a bunch of zombies summoned by T-Gnome's Petro Houngan were marching through the crowd, I wouldn't have even noticed. They could get jumped in melee as the Houngan laughs from a balcony above the street.

Yeah that sounds pretty good! I liked the first idea too, but it would fill a couple nights gaming, and I only wanted a quick encounter to get them started before the real adventure starts. A voodoo zombie fight might be fun!