We were chatting in the Spells are Strong thread when it came up that someone should make a thread that lists the rules of Shadowrun. Here are a few examples:



DGIF: Drones Go In First.

Please feel free to add more!

Have fun.

Anything the PCs can do, the NPCs can do too.

Use MORE explosives is not the back up plan, it's the last resort plan.

Perhaps alt schule for you whippersnappers

Never deal with a dragon
Never trust an elf
Don't shoot till you see the points of their ears

BlueMax

Are you talking Do's and Don't in Character or out of Character?

My OOC
Don't Argue with the GM during gameplay
Do have fun
Do have a working knowledge of the rules
Don't be a rules lawyer during play

You forgot: "Find your own truth!"

Also:

- Double Tap!
- Think before you cheat!
- Always have a backup gun!

Lol, what's the point of knowing the rules if you're not going to correct mistakes. No offense, but GMs who won't swallow their pride are IMO one of the biggest sources of arguments at the table. There's no shame in taking the 30 seconds to check a rule critical to the situation, especially in an era of searchable .pdfs. Obviously for something unimportant people should just make a note of it and point it out later to not disturb the flow of the game, but if it's going to make a difference in how the scenario plays out then you owe it to your players to not fuck it up.

Works for republic commandos, works for shadowrun:

Rule 01: Kill 'em before they kill you.
Rule 17: Always make sure they're dead.
Rule 23: Never pull sentry duty on an empty stomach.
Rule 39: Never say no to a healing spell.
Rule 45: Any crash you can walk away from is a good one.
Rule 89: One's an anomaly, two's a trend.

Other rules I would add:

Keep your back to the wall.
Trust no mage.
Ghouls are NOT people too.
Don't shit where you eat/sleep.

I've found most of the time it's not a case of one or the other not knowing a rule but a disagreement on interpretation or application, if it can be solved in 30 seconds it's not a big deal but if it takes longer than that and there are 3-4 other players not involved in the dispute let it go.

Beware of any small child or pet animal that has more than one line of description.

Ah in that case by all means just pick one interpretation for the night and argue it out afterwards (or take it to dumpshock ). I was thinking more along the lines of "you're doing it wrong" than "I think X should be read as Y".

27 always have an escape plan

28 always have a backup for when plan A through Z fail or don't apply.

29 never piss of the GM in or out of play when its close to gaming time

30 unless you REALLY want to.

I was in a group once where the GM and a player argued for 20 minutes about the implications of the placement of a comma in an adept power description, that really was a waste of a night.

Pillage, then burn.

An ordnance technician at a dead run outranks everybody.

Close air support covereth a multitude of sins.

Close air support and friendly fire should be easier to tell apart.

If violence wasn’t your last resort, you failed to resort to enough of it.

Mockery and derision have their place. Usually, it's on the wrong side of an Ares Predator.

Never turn your back on an enemy.

Sometimes the only way out is through. . . through hostile gang territory.

Everything is air-droppable at least once. Especially enemies.

A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head.

Do unto others.

Your name is in the mouth of others: be sure it has teeth.

Give a man a nutrasoy, feed him for a day. Take his nutrasoy away and tell him he's lucky just to be alive, and he'll figure out how to hack a dispenser to get another one for you to take tomorrow.

Don't be afraid to be the first to resort to violence.

The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy. No more. No less.

A little trust goes a long way. The less you use, the further you'll go.

Only cheaters prosper.

That which does not kill you has made a tactical error.

When the going gets tough, the tough call for magic.

There is no 'overkill.' There is only 'open fire' and 'I need to reload.'

Just because it's easy for you doesn't mean it can't be hard on your clients.

Ah yes, Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates, Shadowrun style.

no one ever see one of these type threads before? numbers for the rules in incrementing values?

52. never leave the big guns at home.

53. when the gm tries to make you leave the big guns at home bring extra ammo and keep the big guns.

54. always have a spare house filled with replacement gear.

55. always have a spare runner for when someone gets geeked

56. always have a spare group for when everyone gets geeked.

57. always have a spare GM for when he gets geeked.

There is no overkill. There's only "Open Fire" and "I need to reload."

Incoming fire has the right of way.

Incoming fire (and Lone Star) doesn't differentiate between friend and foe.

Unless they're the foe.

Playing a "Corporate Security Force" drinking game while on a 'Run is never a good idea.

No longer allowed to "Experiment" with cleaning supplies while on an Extraction 'Run.

No longer allowed to "Experiment" with cleaning supplies while on a B&E 'Run.

No longer allowed to "Experiment" with cleaning supplies while on a Datasteal 'Run.

Encouraged to "Experiment" with cleaning supplies on a sabotage 'Run.

As a complete Shadowrun and tabletop gaming virgin this is the stuff I like to read.

Always do the legwork.
The Johnson can (& most likely will) try to slot you one. Emphasis on the word "try".
Leave as little as possible to chance.
If you don't trust your team, don't do the gig.
Always have the correct ammo.
Make sure your permits are up-to-date.
NEVER get the mage mad at you.
ALWAYS get paid up front first.
Make sure you can get to the Johnson if things go sour.

If you don't trust your team, make sure you can track them down and kill them.
Always have extra types of ammo.
permits are for smucks.
Always be ready to geek the mage, even when he's yours.
Always know where the Johnson's safehouse is.
Always have a backup buyer.
Always steal something to sell.

Spend a good amount of time making your plan, because it will save your ass.

Always have a back-up plan because the first plan will never work.

After the first two plans fail, make sure you have enough CXII to blow the place to hell.

Oh, and the classic:

Shoot straight
Conserve ammo
And never, ever, make a deal with a dragon.

There. Now it applies to Dark Heresy, too.


Mages are like condoms. Its better to have one and not need it, then need it and not have one.

If at first you don't succeed, there's DocWagon.

Never go into a place without knowing how to get back out.

You don't have to get in the first shot. . . . but it helps.

If you see a dragon, run. You're obviously not supposed to be there.

If it bleeds, you can kill it.

Additionally if it leaks Hydraulic Fluid you can probably kill it as well, but you might need a bigger gun.

"All right! We killed the automated construction systems! Now the Union Workers can get their jobs back!"

Most would still apply to shadowrun:

Things I advise my players:
- Non-lethal attacks are good. The guards don't fight as hard when they don't think their life is on the line. Sure, they might lose their job, but it's better than dying. Note: Does not work so well with SK and Aztech guards...as they have pretty permanent (dare I say, draconian?) separation policies.
- Lone Star/Knight Errant is not composed of morons. (Thugs...yes. Morons...no.) I've seen a few CSI episodes in my day. Worry about things like forensic evidence.
- Feel free to carry whatever ordinance and armor you like, but people tend to get suspicious when the troll with the SWAT armor and a machine gun walks up to their building.
- Great dragons are lethal. If you try and fight one, I will kill you. Ditto for regular dragons, but a few of you might survive.
- Snipers are bad juju. It's no fun when an NPC sniper starts killing PCs without warning, or any effective way to respond. Therefore, if you don't snipe too much, I own't snipe too much.
- Lethal chemical/biological/neurotoxin weapons are bad juju. It's no fun when an NPC uses Cyanide, Seven-7 or Ringu to kill the PCs without warning, or any effective way to respond. Therefore, if you don't use them too much, I won't use them too much.

Things I have learned are good ideas:
- Be willing to ditch gear at a moment's notice. Guns, vehicles, commlinks, armor, whatever. It can be tagged, it can be traced, so if you think that you might have been made, linked to a piece of gear, or the gear has been tagged, ditch it.
- Corollary to the above: don't invest too much money in single bits of gear (like the uber-modded vehicles). You have may to ditch it, and it may get severely damaged. Then you are SOL.
- Diversions are a very good idea. Diversions as emergency back-up plans are even better - nothing distracts the guards and the cops like a car blowing up a few blocks away.
- Drones go in first. DGIF. Always, always, always.
- Grenades are a very good thing to have around. Airburst links on a grenade launcher are even better.
- Tag erasers are good. Carry them. Use them. Don't trust that they worked.
- Geek the mage first.
- If you are a mage, do not stand out in the open, wearing robes and shouting arcane insults. Carry the same gear as everyone else, even if you don't know how to use it, and don't draw attention to yourself until you have to.
- Spirits suck. Dealing with them should be the mage's first priority, because the rest of the team may not be able to even scratch them.
- Do not do anything over a wireless link if it can be done over a cable or a direct connection.
- Carry three or four commlinks. Slows down hackers. And you can ditch them without losing all connectivity.
- Have three or four backup IDs.
- Have a safehouse with spare gear. Two if you are paranoid.
- Invest in some basic IC, even if you aren't a hacker. A basic set of analyze/trace/attack helps keep you free of pests.

Well, not that CSI is a good basis for… anything.

Except for the episode with the stewing pot. I have it on good authority that they are more effective, and cheaper, than the "Official" equipment that Coroners are supposed to use.

Fair point. But, surely by 2070 the technology has caught up a bit.

Mind you, nothing could help that lab. Nobody could ever work in a lab with that much light coming out of the tables.

Yeah, I feel like 2070 tech can do what the show says we can do now.

We got a still off the 1990s model B&W surveillance camera seven blocks away!

Zoom in! More! More! More! Enhance! Enhance!

Yep, there it is...the freckle behind his ear. That's our guy!

Haha, did you see when they mocked that in the new Futurama season?

Mutually-assured destruction is the basis of all good working relationships.

You can never leave a man behind, because, as soon as you do, he ceases being a man and becomes a liability.

A Tac-net is the difference between a group and a team.

Never put off till tomorrow what you can put off until you're god damn ready to do it right.

Get the hell out of Seattle once in a while.

Never miss a chance to start a mob war.

A patsy is worth 1000 lies.

Damn Straight... that was Awesome (and so true)...

Semper Fi Marine...

Keep the Faith