Hi everyone, I'm not to sure where to put this so please let me know if I should put it in another section instead.

Me and my friends are new to SR4. So far all we've done is make a mess of Food Fight 2.0 (Which in my opinion isn't the best demo of the game but we soldiered on lol) and create characters for the proper SR4 campaign. We're looking to start the denver campaign this weekend.

What I need to know is how to be a good GM!! I've been reading the rules so I will be more familiar with them but I've never done anything like this before and I'd like advice on how to run the game and what I should expect (I don't even know what questions I should be asking) and that sort of thing. Any help at all is greatly appreciated

Thanks in advance
SleepMethod

Best advice I can give is:
Learn from your players. You should learn their style, so you know how to challenge them without crushing them. It's a fine line to walk, but once you learn it, your players will come away from the game feeling good about the game, and you should have fun with it, too.

Kinda broad question but I'll try to give some broad answers.

Say 'yes' rather than 'no' when a player wants to do something outside the rules. Warn them if it's really stupid, risky or out-of-character.

Eyeball it. Don't spend hours looking up rules in the book. Set a threshold or make it an opposed test and then make the player roll an appropriate attribute + skill. SR4 mechanics are really good for this. Look the rules up afterwards so you know them for the future!

Avoid railroading, you can try and steer players in a certain direction but you want them to feel like it was their decision to go that way.

Make sure your players work out their backgrounds and pick up on character hooks in your scenarios. Makes it more fun.

Try to let everyone have a chance to shine. That includes you as the GM

You will screw up. Rewind if necessary, run with it when you can.

Last but by no means least, it's not you vs them. Challenge them, yes, but its not a competition.

The best tip I have heard is to design each initial run around a game concept then play through it by yourself before getting everyone else involved.
Think about the tutorial levels of a video game. Introduce a concept (shooting a gun), once that is understood add a twist (burst fire,full auto) then add complications (armour, cover, range, visibility).

Thanks, that's very helpful

That's good advice alright though I'm a bit time poor for that at the moment. We're gonna run the denver campaign which seems to start fairly simply anyways so hopefully that ease us into things

Hi SleepMethod!

I'm going through a similar kind of process right now, new to the system, GMing a new group.

My best advice is: Prepare prepare prepare!

Put aside AT LEAST 1 whole evening per 4 hour session to prep for the game, if not 2. I've run 3 sessions so far, and have spent 6 whole evenings (and I really do mean whole evenings, 4 solid hours) doing nothing but reading rules & scenario details, and making notes, draw maps, and build cheat sheets and time lines. Look every detail of the adventure up and write down page numbers from the rule book, pre-calculate dice pools, and so on and so forth. Do it before the day before the session (2+ days in advance) so you have time to ask questions (here) about anything that is confusing in the rules or scenario.

Good luck!

Best Dumpshock advice :

Watch your back. Shoot straight. Conserve ammo. And never, ever, cut a deal with a dragon.


Damn, that's the player edvice

Frankly, GMing while being time poor is going to be a challenge =/ Not that it can't be done, but especially as a new GM, spending time outside of the game learning the mechanics and preparing makes things much, much easier.

The only two pieces of advice I can give that haven't been stated already are:

1) Practice, practice, practice. Just keep GMing through good and bad, it's the only way to get better.

2) Don't be afraid to let your PC be Awesome!

Wanted to emphasize this; never, ever spend more than 30 seconds deciding how to handle a rule during play. Make note and look it up afterward, but for the immediate, if you don't know the exact rule, make something up and go with it.

Based on you having little experience and wanting to run Denver missions, here is my advice.

1) Read each mission adventure at least twice, but preferably 3-5 times. Read it once all the way through to get a good idea of what's going on start to finish. Read it a second time making sure any details or tests you are unfamiliar with, that you highlight and spend time understanding. Read it a couple more times, just so you feel comfortable with the flow of the adventure, maybe look for areas that your players may not follow the rules, etc.

2) Don't be shy about asking for help. Getting your players involved by handing them a book and asking them to look up a rule not only gives the players something to do, but allows the whole table to learn the same rules at the same time.

3) Don't be afraid to make mistakes. You are going to learn a lot the first time you run combat, run the matrix, throw a grenade, cast a spell, summon a spirit, try to blow a hole in a wall, shoot out a tire, etc. There are a lot of rules and not all of them will come into play every session. Even after a year running 4th edition, we had to stop playing and look up just how we were going to handle shooting a pressurized air tank and handle its explosion. Some things come up that aren't straightforward, so just make everyone aware you don't know and work together to figure it out. Even if it doesn't match the rules, as long as everyone had fun doing it, then its a success.

Sit down with the players and discuss, in advance, the fact that you are all new to the game and are learning together.

Make sure that everybody understands that this a a co-operative game which is, in part at least, about working together - players and GM - to create an entertaining story.

Work with the players as a group during character creation to create a balanced party, so that all of the common areas are covered, and so that everybody will get their chance in the spotlight.

(There is nothing worse than a player creating a specialist only to fond that due to better application of the creation rules, somebody else in the party can do their job better)

Emphasise the aim of having fun. As a group, discuss what that means for you. For some it might mean role-play light gun fights with practically no in character speech. For others, they might want to speak in character almost all the time. Make sure that you are all aiming to play the same game in the same style, and that everybody is comfortable with that.

I live by this.

Oi Chum,

Welcome to the other side of the table. I can agree with all of what was said prior to my post. I really have to agree with what Deek said about having the players help look up rules. It gets things done faster and everyone is learning the books. Also don't fall into "Roll-Playing" vs Role-Playing. Don't let the dice rule the day, only your imagination. Just get past a confusing rule with what you think is fair. If you don't quite understand, work it out later. Just keep things moving and have fun. There is nothing wrong with changing how you ruled it the first time when you have a better understanding of the rules later. Thats the good part of being the GM. You are in charge.

One fun thing I like to do at the end of each game is have PC's nominate M.V.P. and call out for a bloopers reel. Always fun.

Good luck, have fun and try to get your PC's to make as many deals with Dragons as you can!!

Don't just *let* your players be awesome. They have to work for it.

Don't waste the players time. Don't let them waste your time or the other players.

So be prepared, have stuff written down, have some ideas on how to handle the player doing something off-script. Understand the important parts of the rules, work with the players so you and they share a common outlook on how things like the insanities of the computer rules work. Know your bad guys, have the right dice handy, don't sweat unimportant details. Don't spend signficant time on npc-npc interaction. Be decisive, but don't be a jerk about it. Admit the mistakes and screw-ups.

Ensure players have their data organized, know how many dice to roll, understand the rules and abilites of their gear/magic. If they don't know they don't act that IP. Don't let them spend 10 minutes debating what to do in the next 3 second turn. Don't get drawn into rules-lawyer debates during games.

But don't crack down until they understand the game and their characters.

In the line of not railroading your players:

Once they've committed to a particular run, establish victory conditions--a set of things they need to accomplish to successfully complete the mission. Let them meet those conditions their way, insofar as possible within the rules. If a player comes up with a clever (or crazy-but-workable) plan that you didn't think of, roll with it as best you can. If they think of a way to avoid a scene that doesn't advance their goals, let them skip it. If there's plot-critical (as opposed to merely useful) information in that scene, find another way to reveal it. Note that some published adventures have railroad points like this. Feel free to ignore them. The book is not the GM, you are. (I'm looking at you, DotA.)

Beyond the minimal completion conditions, set up a few bonus objectives (things like extracting extra useful data, getting through the run without killing anyone, thoroughly cleaning up after themselves, and so forth). Assign some benefits to completing the extra conditions, or penalties to failing to complete them--the paydata includes some patrol schedules that lets them avoid a fight later, the Johnson slips them a small bonus for a "clean" run, an occult investigator or a LoneStar squad comes looking for a team that didn't clean up a crime scene. None of these are critical to completing the basic mission, but they're ways to reward players who are thinking and making choices.

A piece of advice that works for any setting or game: listen to your players. Let them theorize, figure things out, and work things through. No matter how imaginative you are, be willing to pick up cool ideas that they mention and adjust the story with them. You'd be amazed at the sort of things players can come up with in those discussions and how useful one or two tidbits of information can be. It may spice an adventure up, or even just give someone the feeling they were right and can be comfortable in this world.

...that you can steal and use against them. As a bonus, your players will think they are smart that they came up with a plan to overcome the stuff that you only included because they just handed it you. Bwuhahahah! Sorry, my evil GM got the better of me for a moment there.

You're the GM, this round, nothin's ever gonna keep you down.."

Do NOT Railroad. EVER.
They will resent you and forget about the good times and focus on the time where you were too lame to even try to think outside an adventure.

Don't be afraid of detours, yes the story in your head is excellent, but sometimes they want to get the crayons and colour in the background first. Record them.

Record who your players kill, things they destroy, reputations they trash.
- Some deviates like the "I'm wanted on 10 systems" notoriety, but the smart ones will figure that you're going to use the info as a plot hook/disturbance during a run.

Ever had a run going perfectly, then have the runnervan ™ side-swiped by some gangers who's boss you cheesed off 3 missions ago? The perfect run's hosed, the security's alert and now they've also got some friends trying to shoot while riding a motercycle at you.

Make the players THINK. Let them work out how to break into a building and be prepared to make up crap on the spot to cover it. If they manage to put together a workable plan, ohh, good. Then make them check out various other things (nearby roofs, sewer entrances, the astral plane) for issues.

Details - no one but you is going to remember the hair colour of the gang leader you killed 4 sessions ago, unless the orc decker scalped the guy and now has a toupee. Now that the image is in your head, can you imagine a colour? Thought so.

Characters. A porn-adept dwarf as a contact is going to be remembered forever, especially if he keeps hitting on the elf shammy. Engines of destruction, faceless slaughter-mills of the damned make for boring conversationalists.

Places: What's their favourite hang-out, before it was burned to the ground to try and kill the players. (Stupid Halloweeners)

Steal good ideas and use them 6 months later.

Do not ever use A-Team tactics. (Have the opposition do that)

A team up of recent internet memes is your excuse to start drinking to excess.

Pedestrians make bad noises when hit by things, like bullets, spells and vehicles. Avoid. Try and avoid kids and animals. They tend to die and runners are weird about things like that.

It's deadly out there. As a theory, ask your gunbunny to roll a simple surprise test, he the one being surprised. Yes, he might survive the attack, but that lowbie ganger with the ~$200 shotgun just took a a good chunk out of a million's worth of enhancements.

Explain that your lives are precious, fragile and if they don't look after themselves, brief. Stuffer-shack was supposed to do that, I think, but made it a lot too cliched.

Ask the runners what their plans are, then cast objects in their way. Be subtle about it - you're making them work to a goal, not breaking their toys because you can. Ask them what do they want to be when they grow up:)

Re-use old adventures. Some have crowning levels of awesome. And some are painful.

No should never be said. "Are you sure?" is a reasonable substitute. Or, "Before answering, can I ask, "Why?""
A "no" answer isn't someone who's playing with them, it's some dickish rules-lawyer with the rulebooks preventing your player from achieving epic levels of awesome.

Initially, give the players ~ 30 seconds per player per 3 seconds "gun time" planning. Ask if they want to cast an eye about, describe the info as best you can, but if they miss the perception roll, well, it's up to them. (Ok, maybe up to a minute for the noobie players, but they shouldn't need too much encouragement in this.)

Make combat fast, confusing and dangerously bloody. They take it more seriously then.

Have at least 1 good laugh/10 minutes. Have a stretch every hour, and invite your players up into some 6th-world tantric yoga postures. "It works the kinks in" Reward clever or insightful comments. WRITE THOSE DOWN, and use them later.

Players enjoy the game best when they're able to succeed. Make sure it's not against you, it's against a team of slotted-off corp goons that are rightiously defending their property from a bunch of scruffy mercs.

Listen to the table talk, the players. If there are people who don't say much, ask them about 2nd and 3rd tier issues (What do you think you'd do with the loot after this run?) and get them contributing.

Be polite. Be evenhanded. Be prepared! Being the GM is hard work. If the players are bitching how you don't do much, ask them to run them through a small scenario with you playing another player's character (while that player swaps to the now-GM one. Less favouritism, then.)

Read up! Dumpshock's chock of experts. And even real experts.

Finally:
Let them die. Killing your players shouldn't be your aim, your aim is to tell a story. It's their job, not yours, to live.

Caveat: Don't be a dick about it. If the bunny kicked the door in without checking, or failed his roll so bad the magic-user is already passing over the new character sheets, discuss the damage and it's effects to the team. How he owes the rigger money, that sort of thing. Drag him out of the fire (it's always a He.) and tend to him. Have the player beg for help among the team...team dynamic here can be fun and it can be friendship-ending, this is the line to tread as the GM of good runs.


As always,
-Tir

All great advice I'll be keeping it in mind, and probably keeping this page tabbed on the night. I've taken a printout of the run to work with me so I can read it during my breaks and get a feel for it. It's the first denver mission and it doesn't seem too complicated, a couple of border corssings and a shoot out or two, if everything goes to plan, but of course we all know what happens to plans I'm looking forward to this, it'll likely be a mess but also probably be a hell of a lot of fun.

I have three runners, an ex cop PI, an old axe wielding viking and a face/mage Should be interesting

One question I have is when players aren't in combat, like when the border patrol are checking them out, can they talk among themselves as much as they like or do I stick to people taking turns or whatever? Should I limit them to how long a patrol guard might have patience with them while they talk among themselves trying to answer a question? What test would I use for fast talking, a reaction + perception test? not sure if any of the runners have a fast talking skill

Wow, that's some great advice Tiralee, thanks for the insights

In case you're wondering, I have no plans on being a dick lol My objective is to be fair and for everyone to have fun at this We're all good friends as well as noobs so that we'll be helping each other out a lot I think

In general when players aren't in combat, I'll tend to default to real time (i.e. the time it takes for them to talk their way out of the situation and be on their way), it's not a case where time needs to be dilineated by combat turns, that's for....ummmm....combat

With regard to talking among themselves, the fun of the situation can be heightened by having the players stay in character, it's also a good roleplaying opportunity - if they've got a border patrol cop listening in and they've got no ingame method of communicating inaudibly, then he's going to hear what they say to each other. Whatever's said around the table, is said ingame and the NPC should have a chance of noticing any incognito signs or signals. I usually consider out-of-character conversations about how their handling a situation like this whilst the characters are actually IN the situation to be unfair, it also decreases the need for characters to plan ahead. However, especially if your players are newbies, WARN them that you're going to be playing it like this.

Alternatively, in noncomabt situations when the action is long and drawn out or repetitive, for example a road trip, feel free to adopt a popular tool of TV, movies and comicbooks - the cutscene - where the action picks up 'Some time later...'

Not sure about the fast talking question, since I'm not too familiar with SR4, but I'm sure the skill defaults to some attribute or other?

Hope that helps!

Eh?!

Well, basically a street samuria, that's just how he likes to describe his character lol Think a big guy with a big axe and a nordic accent lol

I'll throw in my 2 cents:
1. "The plan is nothing, planning is everything." When baking your own, write down everything you can think of that might be relevant. Read the pre-published stuff a few times.
2. "No plan survives contact with the enemy." Invariably the players will go in a completely different direction than the things you (or the adventure writer) thought. But by thinking out the scenario, you'll be better prepared to handle when things go wrong.
3. Handouts are good. Maps, photographs, etc. Players like things they can see and touch.
4. Don't obsess over minis and mapboards. They are nice, but your time can be better spent on other things. "The guards are the black dice," works just fine. Me, I use Legos minifigs.
5. I'm going to bicker on the "no" thing. "No" is perfectly fine, as sometimes players want to do things that are dumb, against the rules and (more importantly) setting, or just don't make sense.
6. Keep a list of about 20-50 random names out of a phone book on hand. Assign a metatype/race/age. I'm astonished how often I need a random NPC, and use the random name list to get started. Also is a great red herring, because players assume because if he has a name, he must be important.
7. Write everything down.
8. Agree with the rule thing: if you need more than 30 seconds to find the rule, skip it. Make something up. It'll be wrong, but speed wins.
9. Lethality. Player death is a big deal, and puts the player out of the game for a while. Don't be queasy about it, but be careful. Some players take it better than others. My general rule is that if they are just unlucky, don't kill them. If they are foolish, don't kill them. If they are unlucky and foolish, kill away. Mind you, maiming is fine.
10. Avoid situations and powers that make individual players bored or remove them from being able to play. Four common ways this happens.
- Death (see above)
- Focusing too much on one player, typically the hacker hacking or the mage astrally projecting, while everybody else is just standing around.
- Powers like "Fear" or "berserk" that effectively remove the players control over their character.
- Letting one player monopolize your attention.
11. Feel free to say no to certain character positive/negative qualities. I highly recommend saying no to anything that forces characters to do things, or that complicate the rules.

Now for the ugly truths:
1. The GM sets the field, but the players make the game. I've played in games with great players, and a lousy GM. We had a great time. I've played with great GMs and lousy players and been miserable.
2. Some players will try and hog the game, dominate your time and control the other players. They often don't take subtle hints to back off. If they don't take the hint, sometime before the next session, talk to them _privately_.
3. Some players delight in ruining games and just being an ass. I don't know why, but they do. Watch out for characters with flaws/powers like berserk or the like, as these kinds of players typically just use them as an excuse to cause mayhem.
4. Some sessions will go great. Some sessions will not. Don't worry about it.

"Friendships, like plans, rarely survive contact with the enemy"

Fair enough on the "No" thing - I'm far more sensitive to written-word nuiance than the spoken fun (I'm the GM in our games, btw.) and don't like to shut down a line of inquiry "because I say so", UNLESS that's been discussed with the group and they agree with that decision.

"What do you mean, no Beserk players?!"

Hell, if they want beserk, they get it. My mage is a combat monster (thank the gods for high willpower) and everyone is very aware of what happens if someone gulps down a big jug of crazy and starts looking around for targets. It's why she's treated (by the players!) as a delicate flower and left in the car as overwatch (Also handy as that means the rest aren't using the GMPC as a crutch.)

The players also live with it. If your troll goes batshit in a fight and starts hurting the team, he's down with a couple of tranks and cuffed in a basement somewhere, if no one puts an AV round in his head first.

If someone's got problems, they're usually roleplayed out nicely. Sometimes with etiquette, sometimes with small arms, once with a Flamethrower 9 spell - if there's a goal they can alsmot reach, they'll try. The trick is making that journey seem easy while they almost die and not giggling or pointing.


Ulgh. Yeah, this can be an issue, even with very experienced gamers.

If the GM's not having fun they should say so as well.
If it's a personal issue, it's discussed personally.
If it's a group issue, it's discussed as a group. You don't drag the personal shit out to big-shot yourself, nor should someone do that to you.
If they don't like the decision, they can go back to playing with themselves as it seems that's what they're really focussed on, rather than playing in a group. And tell them that. And you'll suddenly find that they were not just cramping yourself, but everyone else.

Being an experienced gamer doesn't mean "being kicked from every group in a 30 mile radius over a decade for being a dick".
-Some see it as a badge of honour, others just say, "the other guys were lame". Try and avoid.

But sometimes the game isn't for them. I know, it seems weird, but people might have vastly different wants/needs when it comes to entertainment and although it seemed interesting at first, they might simply be better off playing the X-box and enjoying pizza with you in the room. Organise a meet accordingly. (Or have them roll the bad-guys, this can break them of bad habits as well)

Oh - ask players who aren't in action their plans, and have them ask you questions. Play it up, "I'm sorry team leader, I've got some guy yammering in my ear about a robotic unicorn, say again?"
If someone dies - they get to control the bad guys. This will always make life more difficult for the surviving players. Trust me, they're not going to let you get cleanly away, no sir.

-Tir. (Ranting a speciality)

One of the golden rules for my table is that every player (and that includes the GM) should aim not to entertain themselves, but to entertain every other player at the table.

If every player in a 6 person group follows that rule, you will get out 5 times as much entertainment as you put in.

However, some players might need reminding that comdey is *not* the only form of entertainment.

It's a social skill, so that's the natural place to look. If you check Con, you'll see that there's a Fast Talk specialty option listed there.
So, to fast talk your way out of a mess it's Con + Charisma by the books. Make sure to keep track of the Social modifiers if you want to stay close to the books on this. In this case, practice is my advice. As you play, these things will become simpler. Don't be afraid to ask here either. We generally answer stuff like this faster...

Also, try and keep a campaign log. If you can run down the previous session via log, pointing out what each character did to further the story, then you're in good shape, and hopefully your players will appreciate it.

I agree that Berserk and things can work, I just suggest that a new GM be very careful about letting those things loose in a game. It can be very disruptive, and a new GM has enough to worry about without worrying about that as well - particularly if the players are relatively new as well, and don't have plenty of own-team-member neutralization kit.

Then again, I'd have to wonder about the sanity of any shadowrunner that worked with a member that might go berserk in the middle of a run. A very good way to attract a lot of unwanted attention. Mind you, I GMed a campaign where the team killed their one of their own teammates and left his corpse for the police to find, because he "accidentally" killed a train full of civilians during a run. So the impact of Berserk may be very different depending on your style of play...

Other things to worry about:
1. Intra-party strife can quickly get out of control. A little paranoia is good, things can go too far (see above story).
2. Avoid characters that are deep-cover agents for the CIA or other, similar organization. It will go badly. Trust me on this. Be wary of ex-cops in good standing and licensed Private Investigators as well.
3. When planning out emerging threats, metaplots and the like, keep in mind that the characters can always call the police or other higher authorities to take care of things when they get in over their heads. Don't try and prevent it (necessarily), but just remember that it could happen.

Great idea on having the dead guy play an enemy grunt/leader upon death. Annoyed that I haven't used it before...

You don't need to have everything planned out. Typical bystanders have dicepools of 4-6 in things they know how to do and a 2 in things they are not skilled at. You don't need a detailed write up of everyone in the game world, the dicepools are the interaction point, so go by those.

Having a running gag can be a good thing. Our group has a Samie who gets shot in the back every run, ususally by a player with a full auto shotgun doing wide bursts with a wide choke. We had a group where there was an old lady on fire at some point in each mission (they were a weird bunch).

Find out if your group wants Pink Mohawk or Trenchcoat. Do they want the run to be like "Smoking Aces" or more like "Heat" (well more like the main characters wanted the robbery to go in "Heat" anyway).

when creating your own adventure, write it down as a plot synopsis. Read what you have written. Think about the various ways in which the players could go off the path you've laid. Write the most likely results from their deviations.

short example:
Players get a call from Mr. Johnson, he'd like to hire them for some wetwork. $10k each. The job is to off someone suspected of being a corporate spy. Shes gotten engaged to the VP of Finance in EVO. He's pretty attached to her so we'd prefer it if he didn't find out. Any evidence you can find and recover of her corporate espionage will be rewarded.

There's a couple places the players could go off the rails already. You need to write a contingency plan that assumes they will.

1. Players refuse to work for so little money.
A. Mr. Johnson offers more money.
B. Mr. Johnson offers less tangible rewards like connections or access to restricted gear.
C. Mr. Johnson tells them to slot off.(This one is hard to come up with contingencies for. Hopefully your players are nice enough to do the run you have planned.)
2. Players decide at some point in the run to work for the other side. Their options from here are most likely:
A. Inform the corporate spy of their job, possibly offer her protection in exchange for money/goods/contacts.
B. Inform the VP she's engaged to about what is going on. Being somewhat high up in EVO he may be able to protect both her and the runners from the fallout of burning their Johnson.
C. Some combination of A & B
3. Individual player betrays the team and does something from #2. listed above.
4. Players decide to work both sides. Fake the death of the corporate spy, and reap the rewards of both sides.
5. Players uncover evidence that the person they've been hired to hit is not a corporate spy.
6. Players uncover evidence that the person they've been hired to hit is a corporate spy, but her cause seems benevolent or at least beneficial to the players.....see 2 and 3 above.

And the list goes on. Each of these needs to have a result written out by you, the GM. The results need to involve names of NPCs each one could cause them to meet. Stats for those NPCs. Motivations of those NPCs.

Runner Smurf - it's a good to keep a player busy but beware, they will do their utmost to absolutely BBQ the other scummy no-good runners. And suddendly, the generic corpers start doing evil, nasty stuff, like burning down the compound to flush out the players....

<Group horrified stare>
"What? It worked in Waco, didn't it?"

Intra-party strife can be fun, and can be horrible. Keep it friendly (ala Legolas and Gimli) and not oneupmanship. Discourage the use of scoring, it means there's going to be a loser and that can also be painful, just, you know, in character remind one player of, "yeah, well, remember the time to kicked that door in a combat-rolled out of a 3-storey building because you got the map the decker gave us upside down?"

It's a fun game, not a dickwaving competition.

-Tir

I don't think a GM needs to waste time on writing out all of the results, but I do agree that the GM should be aware of the possibilities of runners going off course. As long as the GM has considered the possibility and thought a bit on how to react, I think he'll be fine without writing down 50 pages of what if scenarios.

Aye, just have a list of ~20 names on hand for insta-NPCs, and you'll be fine.

I thought that movie was very clever and a lot of fun, but I still cringe and laugh when the FBI agents return fire on a sniper using a weapon capable of striking from what appears to be more than half a kilometer with their handguns across a public parking lot, lol.

Just do it. You won't learn how what type of GMing works best for you until you roll up your sleeves, sling some dice, and tell some stories with your friends.

You might be the type that can stay a half-step ahead of your players, building a game world for them even as they're exploring it, with just a half sheet of scribbled notes instead of elaborate maps, NPC stats, and building layouts. Maybe your players will flesh out contacts on their own, coming up with colorful details and meaningful NPC relationships without you having to do most of the work. Maybe your group will surprise you by latching onto some little character hook detail instead of worrying about the big "official" shadowrun job you had laid out, so that some throwaway line of between-job fluff turns into a major plot point of the campaign.

You won't know until you do it. You won't know what works for YOU and YOUR GROUP until you try it and see. Before you know it, you'll fall into a rhythm and you'll see for yourself what notes you're using and what work you prepared for no reason, you'll see what your characters enjoy and what they don't, and you'll let those things run together until you've got a campaign of your very own going, that no one else could have prepared you for or told you exactly how to handle.

So have fun. Keep track of what works and doesn't, communicate with your players -- you're playing with them, not against them -- and make sure everyone's having a good time, and go to town! Welcome to Shadowrun. Have a good time with it.

I'll add a bit. Stuff I've as a GM learned from my group.

Be prepared but don't "plan". The more you plan the more likely things will not "go as planned". Instead, have a lot of NPCs, Locations, and ideas to draw on. Get a notebook and keep them on paper.

As far as plots and stories, it's best to make a "framework", a rough idea of what you want with a lot of blanks to fill in by the players. Figure out the 2 or 3 most important things you want to happen and try to come up with a few different ways to have those things happen. If the players do something unexpected ask yourself if you can still bring those things to the players in a different way. Sometimes you can't. That's when the next one becomes important.

Make NPCs & lots of them: Don't just give them stats but character traits as well as personal goals. Write these down and save them. When the players do something unexpected, look at the NPC's personality, resources, and objective and have them act appropriately.

Make locations: Floor plans are great and reusable. Save them. You never know when they might have to make a return trip. Make a security presence that is reasonable to the location. Don't make it a dungeon crawl of traps and monsters, unless the NPC that designed it was a mad D&D player or something (a damn good reason). Crawls don't work so well in Shadowrun and don't fit the theme much either.

Don't be afraid to give the players hints if they are doing something that has no plausible way of working. Call it a time and aggravation saver. For instance, when doing leg work anytime the players accidentally start chasing their tails or go on a wild tangent the NPC says something like "I don't know, but I bet RANDO NOMÉ knows." My code for "Random Name" because this guys is 100% unimportant and on the wrong trail. Only use something like this though if the tangent they took really has no way back to the goal (without being absurd and breaking believability/story/etc) and they ARE interested in that goal.

Don't be afraid to make changes on the fly. The more you have prepared the more material you have to work off of when unexpected things happen, and they will. Use different NPCs they you were going to, use the security from one location in place of another to beef it up or tone it down, take away two grunts from an encounter or double them, whatever you need.

Remember, you can punish the character, not the player. You can bring the hammer down on a character for in character things actions and stupidity but don't EVER do it to retaliate on a player for something.

Reserve the right to block and remove broken elements from the game. Don't allow a concept you know will unbalance the game. If you are iffy about one and allow it only to find it breaking the setting and fun into itty bitty pieces you can tell the player they need to make some changes.

Your #1 job is to provide a fun game. This includes you.

I agree, my campaign log has turned out to one of the most important tools in my game - I use it to tie my players actions into the canon timeline, to keep a note of characters and places that pop up (especially stuff that appears unplanned during the game as a response to player actions), so that I can remember the details and plan for them next time. Also a great tool for keeping an eye on hanging plot threads and for whenever karma award time comes around!

And one more thing, if it hasn't been touched on already. Don't let the players think that the entire universe revolves around them. All the other people that exist in the world have their own lives and priotrities, and what the characters need right then and there may NOT be it. Maintaining the illusion of a living breathing world that the characters exist in is IMHO one of the most important roles a GM fills.....s'good fun too!

Wow, this is a lot of great stuff! I'll be digging out my A4 pad for this one

I usually try to plan for the most probable PC actions and the NPC reactions, but aside from that, if you know the NPC's motivations you can easily roleplay the actions of all your NPC's no matter what the PCs do.

Be good at drawing quick maps for things. Quickly sketching the back-alley behind the stuffer-shack can do wonders for the immersion-level of the group.


Also, sorry for the Thread-Necro.