Greetings Dumpshock forums. I am a new GM that wants to run a shadowrun campaign. All of my players are new to shadowrun but experienced role-playing gamers. I am looking for ideas for a campaign that will offer rewarding storytelling experiences but nothing too deeply involved with the history and setting of the game, as I don't want to overwhelm them. Again, this is a group that has been playing RPGs for years but is 100% new to shadowrun. Any suggestions?

Welcome to Dumpshock man

Are you looking for story ideas or a good module to run? for the latter I'd suggest "On the run". For the former, Just take the shortest, most straight foreward plot you can think of. there's a few short plot ideas floating around in the books. I did one about the "runaway daughter" that turns out to be an escaped meat puppet. It raised a few moral problems for the group, but other than that, not bad. your first run will mostly be a "how does this work?" situation, so its not a real big deal story wise (imo). good luck to ya!

What kind of game do the players want?

Honestly, the basic nature of the game is all you really need to get a campaign started. Pick your city, come up with a few runs (Data Steal, Extraction, etc.), and just run a few missions. Ideas for a more complex campaign will come once you and the players have gotten used to what it's like to do a run.

I've always had the best luck building story buy having interesting contacts and Johnson's who all work with the Players, but have conflicting goals, putting the players in the middle.

You may also want to consider running something like Ghost Cartels, Dawn of the Artifacts (the PDF was released yesterday), or the Shadowrun Missions adventures.

By the way, what games do you normally play?

Thank you everyone.
@Trillinon: As I am new to this, I am thinking of starting in a semi-wild enviroment, such as an area outside the bay area in the california free state, and then moving to canada, and then europe. I have some ideas for contacts and conflicting objectives, and I think I can integrate them into almost any module or campaign. To answer your question, me and my group have played D & D (3.5) for a few years, and Star Wars RPG (3rd ed) for a little less than that. This, however, is my first time as full time GM. Previously, I just filled in (for both SWRPG and D&D) and the creative license is almost a little intimidating

@ TheGothfather: That's an interesting question..... Two of my players prefer RP > Action, two think Action ≥ RP, and one of my players likes to go postal on his enemies. Only three of my players are interested in the cyberpunk aspect, one likes magic, and one would blow all of his money on an Assault Canon. I have a decent backstory/personal history group, but one of my Roleplayers likes to write backstories the length of novellas, which gets some of the others mad when i design missions around backstory. All in all, it's something like a zoo.

Cool. Everybody likes different stuff. How are you going to get everyone on the same page?

@TheGothfather: I dont know yet, but i bet it'll involve helicopters, a fixer, and a security hack and a "few" pounds of C4 (or 2070 equivalent).

Thanks to everyone that chipped in, and please let me know if you have any more advice or suggestions

I don't mean plot-wise. I'll be a little more blunt.

Make them do the work for you. Sit down, before you make characters, before you've written a run. Hell, before you even decide what city you're playing in. Bust out the notepad, and ask them, point blank, what's going on in the game. Where are you at, what's going on, and who's involved. Let them do the heavy lifting on the campaign creation end. Then they'll create characters that give a rat's ass about what's going on in the game, because the players care, because they came up with it. Then all you have to do is put those cool things that they came up with in jeopardy, and you've got potentially years of gameplay.

Thanks, I'll try that.

Have them read Buzzkill, in the very front of SR4 rulebook, as well as all the fluff at the start of the chapters. Those help very much with setting the scene for Shadowrun.

What I did in my last campaign was give the players 3 or 4 basic backgrounds that I was willing to run. I then told them to pick one and then made sure their characters fit the background they agreed to. I think what I started with was: a basic street level game, an ex-military globetrotting mercenary campaign, a tight-knit corporate espionage squad and a post-apocalyptic setting (like Fallout).

No one wanted to do the cliche ex-military campaign (I couldn't blame them). While the Fallout feel was liked, they didn't want to stray too far from a normal Shadowrun backdrop. They were torn between the final two and the corporate espionage won out, basically because I gave them a free high lifestyle, gave them a budget of nuyen for each mission, free skills and generally speaking, they liked the idea of stealth missions that already had corporate backing.

While sometimes getting the players to do all the heavy lifting is good, the GM has to like what's going on and be able to produce some outline content for where the campaign is going. Therefore, I'd rather find a handful of campaigns that I would like to run and then give the players the option to choose one. Seeing you can basically create RP and Action in about any campaign, players are pretty easily amused...but no one's gonna have fun if the GM gets burnt out or has trouble writing up missions for the chosen setting!

The GM is a player, too, so I'm not suggesting that he doesn't have any input. He should be as involved as everyone else.

What about the Quick Start rules? Gives you a feel for the enviroment without delving to deep into the backstory and lets you know how combat works. I find it a very good jump off to get them into a campaign. Works well with people who have RP without playing SR. They can kinda act out and see what happens.

Trevor

Welcome to Dumpshock.
FREE Quickstart Rules
25 FREE ready to play Missions

Using the missions allows you to concentrate on game play, learning mechanics, learn a little fluff and style, all without worrying about thinking it all up yourself.

Well, the Dreck hit hit the fan. Two of my players (ages 16 and 14) have a little sister (age eight) that tags along with them to D&D. When we heard we were doing something new, she wanted to play. When we said that she couldn't, she complained to her overprotective dad. When her dad asked why she couldn't play, I lent him a copy of SR4 to read. After reading it, he decided that NONE of his kids could play. Now, I either have to lie to him, go incognito, or just drop them. I would choose the 3rd option, but that only leaves me with 3 people, and one of them is a 14-year old idiot that couldn't roleplay to save his life. any advice?

Well that sucks...

Not too much you can do about an overprotective parent who doesn't want their kids doing something. At least he didn't destroy it like what happened to my 1st ed Deities and Demigods complete with Cuthulu when a friends mom found it.

You might want to consider just talking to him about it, try and figure out what his problem with it is and then try to figure out a way to address it. If it's the violence. I'd talk with your players first and see if they're up for a black trenchcoat 'hist' style game with a minimum of violence then let him sit in on it. It's worth a shot at least. IME parents tend to respond fairly well to a kid coming up to them in a mature manner and saying "I understand the concerns you have about this but I'd really like it if Tommy and Billy could play. These are the changes I've made to tone things down a bit, maybe you'd like to take a look at them?"

He any good with the rules? if so, not all is lost.

I would talk to the father and find out what exactly he didn't like about his 16 year old playing. Then see if you cant work around it. You don't have to play shadowrunners for example you could play the cops.

Or even Doc-Wagon

Personally as a parent I say no matter what you have to respect his wishes if you are unable to change his mind.

Can I ask why you didn't want the 8yr old sis play? My 8 yr old daughter sees her daddy and older brother play and she wants to learn. I had no issue with it. She does need a little hand holding but the more she plays the better she gets.

Trevor

Probably for much of the same reasons that most people frown at letting an eight year old watch R and X Rated movies.

I understand that. I am a firm believer that as long as children are supervised or taught correctly they should be allowed to explore their world. This does not mean I would let my 8 yr old watch an R or X or NC-17 movie, but RPG'ing I think can really help to open up the mind. Unlesss there is copius amounts of violence for no reason or explicit talk that happens all the time. Well then my daughter needs to leave the room.

Trevor

I saw my first R rated film at about age 10 (It was Das Boot). As for Shadowrun, I would note that if he was planning a PG-13 campaign or mini-run, an 8 year-old may be a bit young. Something about how the game goes into detail regarding sex, prostitution, drugs, slavery, criminal mindset, yeah- I can se why the father didn't even want his 14 and 16 year old to play (not that I agree with it).

Hmmmm Bubba the Love troll anyone? How does the average 8 yr old handle Tamanous Organleggers, pervasive drug use, crime, prejudice, and etc..

If you are specifically tailoring your game to children, you can all be the good guys all the time, pick a fairly safe social topic to address, and basically minimize the dark side of 2070. If you did that, the game would be entirely compatible with any group that would respect the dynamics of the campaign. I personally don't want to play in that sort of game any more than occasionally.

Sure, I have nothing against allowing children to roleplay, BUT I know what my reaction would be if someone went behind my back and played what I felt was an inapportiate situation with my children.

Also something else to note, even as an adult I find it creepy to play with minors that I'm not directly related to, so depending on the age of the group that might also be a factor.

Hate to say it, but it was probably the Spirit Summoning Witchcraft type stuff that ticked the dad off. Parents get the willy's when it comes to roleplaying supernatural stuff, but then sit and watch Primetime fox with their kids, egging on Jack Bower as he tortures his way to the truth for the sake of American lives.

Find new players. I did not think anyone at my workplace would be into shadowrun, but after nearly three years of working there I finally told some shadowrun stories to someone there and instantly had 5 players dying to play twice a week. People will surprise you.

Yeah I can see where someone would be a little apprehensive. I certainly would not tell someone to go behind a parents back. That would irratate me to no end. I do think a rational approach and find out what specifically was the issue would be the way to go though. Then again, may not be worth it and just easier to go out and find some new players.

Trevor.

Looks like you've got a personal decision to make. Are you more attached to running Shadowrun, or playing with these players? It looks like something has to give, and what that is will depend on your priorities.

Thank you one and all for your support and advice.

@Imperialus: I tried that. He doesn't like the setting, period. He said that it was too "gritty" and "close to home". I think the only reason that he lets his kids play D&D and SWRPG is because those settings are extremely removed from reality and you don't really have the option to be anything but "good," (or at least a shade thereof,) without substantial effort. Those games gloss-over real world issues, and I believe that is why he lets his children play them.

@Stahlseel: No. When i told him i was thinking about starting a new campaign, the first words out of his mouth were "Can i be a half-dragon?" followed shortly by "well, can I be a dragon?". Also, he has a tendency to break into lolspeak whenever he gets agitated. He wasn't really interested in playing, anyway, the GM is his personal friend and lets him get away with murder, as well as being almost literally the same character (half-metallic dragon that is the son of the previous character) over and over again.

@tete:I would consider that, but two of my players want to be really evil. I'm talking about organlegging and messy wetwork here. The main reason they're interested in shadowrun is because, as I said in my first reply, in D&D and SWRPG the GM/DMs had to keep it kind of mild for their sister. My players want to get into the darkest, bloodiest areas of metahumanity available.

@Ravor: Yeah, I've kind of resigned myself to that fact. Also, his wife died a few years back and he has been very protective of his children ever since. I believe that he doesn't even like to think about things that the average runner would do with a smile.

@JTNLANGE:I don't mean to whine about her, but she has become very needy ever since her mother died. She's now the only girl in her family and everyone dotes on her. She's gotten so used to being the center of everyone's attention that she'll resort to disruptive behavior in our D&D sessions to get the spotlight back on herself or her character. This has even gone so far as to derailing play for 10 minutes while her brothers persuade her that she can't suddenly betray us in the middle of a fight for no reason. I shudder to think of what she would do with a drone/gun/spell at he fingertips.

@Orcus Blackweather: Yeah. I think that not letting my players explore would pretty much butcher the integrity of the game. everyone is really sick of being either good or neutral in D&D and wants do do something evil. btw, the girl's father specifically banned her (and by extension the rest of us) from having an evil alignment.

@Ravor(2): you bring up another good point; I wanted this to be role-playing intensive. It's not that I don't like the girl, it's just that she can barely handle D&D, let alone shadowrun. All of the "minors" in question have been plaing RPGs for years, and have probably been exposed to more graphic depictions of violence than most other kids. We don't really leave out the gore when we play, but we don't tone it down either. If you get a double crit with a flaming waraxe, the enemy is probaly going to explode into freshly cooked hamburger, but if you shoot someone with a crossbow for 2 damage, you're not going to leave a gaping monstrosity of a wound. we call them like we see them.

@Damienknight: No. He was up front with me with what he didn't like about the game, specifically the fact that it was gritty, real and didn't gloss over the underbelly of humanity.

@JTNLANGE(3): yeah. it's going to be odd not playing with those two, but i have my brother (15) his friend(15) his friend(maybe) and another kid from my D&D group(17). that should be enough to cover the basics.

Well, you ARE playing Shadowrun after all *snickers* ^^
But it sounds as if it's time for scorched earth and burning of bridges.

Dude, seriously. She's eight. And her mom died. What sort of behaviour do you expect from this kid? If you're holding her to the same standards as teenagers, that's ridiculous.

@toolbox: I know. I don't even feel that she should be playing RPGs at all. When I run a campaign, I expect all of my players to chip in with at least a semblance of roleplaying. She can't do that, and that is why I don't want her to play. I don't like kicking her out, but all of my players want something more serious and more role-playing oriented. If that means she has to go, than so be it.

Look, I'm not sure how old you are, but if I were you I would be taking some serious steps to protect myself from any possible allegations of misconduct given the fact that the girl is troubled, especially if you are to the point of cutting ties.

@Ravor: Yeah, no kidding. I've done that by talking with her brothers. They have the same view as me; We don't want to get rid of the little girl, but everyone (including her brothers) is really getting sick of having to keep the campaigns PG-rated and politically correct. Again, the little girl is actually as enjoyable as an 8-year-old can be but really screws with our game. The DMs have some truly wicked (as in sick, twisted and disgusting, not the surfer vernacular) ideas that they can't do because their sister is there. We all love her, but she just can't keep up with us; i don't mean to be callous, rude or insensitive, but she's really putting a strain on our group. Feel free to flame me for what I say, but that truly is how I feel.

Also, for those of you curious, I am 17 years old.

I guess I don't understand the point of having an 8 year old girl in your gaming group. I mean, even without the troubled past, you are a 17 year old running a shadowrun game, and whether she is their sister or not, she's 8. And if her brothers want her out, its just seems odd that you are trying to keep her in the game...

She's 8. Tell her to go play with someone else. You don't need to explain that to her...she's 8...

I didn´t read the whole topic (i never do, you know me) but if somebody needs a new playing-group and hangs around stuttgart, he is always welcome in mine.^^

@Deek: I would, if I didn't think that it would (in all seriousness, no melodrama or hyperbole whatsoever) collapse our group like a 2-year-old playing Jenga. I do not mean to insult her father or demean her late mother in any way, but her father gets her anything that she wants. If the group (and her brothers) say that she can't come, she'll whine to her dad, and he'll stop his kids from playing. That almost happened last week, but in a different situation; I have no doubt that he'd rather fuck over the rest of the group and take all of our resources ($1200 in books that he bought for his kids) than tell his daughter that she can't play with the big kids. Now you're up to speed, and i'm looking back over what I just wrote with a melancholy sigh of resignation and a look of grim humor on my face.

So? Make your damn choice and quit whining about it, either resign yourself to playing by the father's rules (Which by the sound of your posts you really aren't happy with the status quo.) or make your stand and figure on losing access to the brothers and the books that the father paid for, believe it or not, but people were playing rpgs without $1,200 dollars of books for decades.

Oh, and don't believe for one second that you've insulated yourself from being accused of improper conduct just because you've talked to her brothers, as an outsider looking in your instinstance on keeping her around raises a couple of red flags with me, and I'm personally inclined to belive your side of the stor simply because I've been falsely accused of horrible things by my ex-wife during our divorce, and it took a hell of alot of time and money to clear my name.

@Ravor: Thanks for the advice. I'll think about it, but I think i'm going to stay with the group. The DM/GMs are getting fairly fed up with their dad, and have basically told the group that they're going to essentially ignore their father's "restrictions" on what the can and can't do. As long as they keep their sister happy, she won't squeal and we (the group) will be happy. I will start looking for people to run a Shadowrun campaign with as soon as I start back in school, but it may be hard as I am not exactly a "social person." Anyway, the situation is on the verge or fixing itself one way or another .

Just be very, very careful, and prepare yourself for the worst, I have a feeling that "keeping her happy" is going to end badly even if it doesn't result in her going to her father, and if she does, the brothers are going to get off easy compared to whoever the father considers to be the troublemaker. And that is probably going to be you since you're the one who brought up Shadowrun to him.

@Ravor: Yeah, I always prepare myself for the worst. I Don't think we're gonna be able to play, especially since their father already dislikes me. I have, however, recruited my brother and a mutual friend, so I may just have a Two-Person campaign and fill out the Tech and Magic roles with NPCs as both of my players are hardcore gunbunnies. I think that any chance of playing shadowrun with the two brothers is pretty much shot, so i'll start writing a campaign outline with the two gunbunnies and the NPC support. Thank you everyone for your input and advice.

i take you up on that!!!! where near stuggi are you?

and regarding the OP, dont play with peeps younger than 16 honestly...
unless of course... mmh... from what i've read the dad seems to have been in contact with rpgs himself, maybe he wants to join (men are children, you now, they always wanna play)

allthough it would prolly better to get a new group. you could even ask some girls to join (honestly i mean it) not the prom queen type, but you know the skinny darkwave/gothic chica.....