So, I have been convinced to run Shadowrun... Trouble is I have never played the game myself. This resulted in lots of improvisations and confused players.
So I need advice on two things:
1) Creating player characters. What attribute matters, what doesn't, what skills are must have (for a sensible shadowrunner), what is needed for a decent mage/technomancer. How much dice is actually avarage for a character? (We're using only SR4A for the time being) I could do test combats all day and get an idea but asking you guys seems much faster.

2) Creating advesaries: This is more or less like the first question. I can't seem to gauge npcs to players; sometimes they prove to be really challenging, sometimes players wipe the floor with them. Also, crowded combats are a BAD idea.

3) Awarding PCs: What are the going rates of shadowruns? I have some idea of Karma awards, but nuyen? No idea. I was thinking of running a bounty hunter campaign (something like cowboy bebop).

Also just curious: Is there anybody running/playing shadowrun in Istanbul, Turkey? The guy that introduced me to SR has vanished from the face of the Earth.

Another point: What are the game breakers? Any suggestion on house rules?

one skill almost all must have in some level is Perception.
Needed ability scores allocation all depends what kind of charc. is created
street samurais need something else than Mages..etc..
(IMOO) decent dice pool (skill + ability) is about 10..w/ that t charc. survival possibility is higher than not..

1)
Attributes: Strength has little to no use in most situations. Having a high Body is useful when you need it, but the rest of the time it's far less useful than Agility and Reaction are. As for the mental attributes, it depends if you have any skill that depends on them, though most GM won't appreciate stupid and socially inadapted characters. With all the books, you can raise attributes so high that skills don't really matter.

Skills: Perception is a must-have. Dodge (or gymnastic) can be very useful. Infiltration is often a good idea for a shadowrunner but the rest depends on the character.

Average dicepool: it varies from table to table (and player to player). When SR4 came out, an average dice pool was 7-8, and 14 was considered as a very good pool (with the occasional 20 in experiments on how to get the highest [something] pool), with the following books, there was a dice pool inflation and the average is now closer to 10-12 with 20 being quite common for specialists.

2) You can take them from the book, but they'll be weak (and ridiculous: elite troops with just a rating 1 wired reflexes?). But even if you adapt them to your PC you can have surprises. SR characters are often compared to glass cannons: they deal a lot of damage, but they break easily. Most of the time, the side with surprise/initiative on its side wins. Magic can mess things up, with powerful spirits that can be difficult to hurt without the correct weapons (or magic).

3) Up to you, the feel you want to give your campaign, how fast you want the PC to be able to "level up" their gear and so on. You'll find thousands of threads about this on Dumpshock, with the same endless arguments about stealing cars and other things like that.

for characters there are the sample archetypes in the core book, which are fine for beginners. Once players know the game they probably want to tweak them as they are not completely perfect. AFAIK some lack the aforementioned Perception skill.
Alternatively, I really like UmaroVI's alternative Archtypes: http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=35587
they are really well worked out and he explains a lot. Try them, once you aquire the other rule books (Arsenal, Runners Companion, Augmentation, Unwired, Street Magic)

As usual people are pretty quick to give the numbers, and that's all well and good-but I don't see a lot of mention about just sitting down and discussing the setting, and rules as a group. And maybe that's because it's presumed you've done this. *Shrugs* and maybe you have; but I've found this seems to be the most often over looked part of a group. Whether it's by emails, or over a pint sit down and discuss what they expect, and what you expect from your players. (And maybe if you're an established group this is a moot point.)

After that my best advice is to tailor your games to your group. If you can devote a session to just generating characters-and you as the GM generate a few. After that I think it's all personal preference.

Stats of the adversaries don't matter much(in SR3 giving 4s and 5s in the important stats was fine. Just be sure to not have the fights go like a bad sifi channel original movie; big monster that takes a bazillion hits and doesn't die. Just have the opposition use some tactics, once the PCs are at medium damage they should be running, if not you're probably about to kill them. Note: be sure to enforce the negative modifiers from damage to all rolls. PCs might be tough when going against base TNs, but once the modifiers are in place it has hit the fan. Don't forget to add extra enemies every turn that "just arrived" and did so in very inconvenient locations, for the PCs. This can be done with great effect using an astrally projecting mage to summon spirits (not actively engage in combat, then he might die). Don't forget to not remind players that Spirits are not completely immune to guns, just very very resistant; unless of course you want them thinking an autocannon makes a fine holdout pistol.

Shadowrun dice pools generally work on skill + Attribute, so generally a character should have a moderately high Attribute if it is one that is linked to their specialty. For example, a street samurai needs a high Agility, since that is the Attribute used for most combat skills, while a mage needs a high Magic score. Average dice vary a lot. This is a game that deliberately encourages both getting magical ability, and enhancing yourself with cyberware and bioware. These things can affect dice pools by 1) increasing an Attribute, 2) increasing a skill, or 3) adding a stand alone bonus to a skill. These bonuses tend to cluster more around combat, social, and magical skills, all of which involve opposed tests with potential negative modifiers. Modifiers are important! Remember them, because otherwise the dice pools for combat, social, and magical skills can be overwhelming.

So I'll give an example. Take a street samurai. He has a natural Agility of 5, and has muscle toner: 2. This raises his dice pool by 2 by raising the Attribute with 'ware. He has a skill of 5 and has a reflex recorder, raising it to 6. He has raised his dice pool another point by raising the skill with 'ware. Finally, he has cybereyes that have the smartlink modification, for +2 when firing smartlinked weapons. He has raised his dice pool by 2 points by getting a stand alone bonus from 'ware.

Not all dice pools are as easy to raise, neither are all dice pools equivalent to each other even at the same amount. Compare, say, the pistols skill versus the survival skill, both at 12. The guy with survival at 12 has a skill of 6 and a Willpower of 6 - impressive! The guy with pistols of 12 has an Agility of 3, improved to 5 with muscle toner, a skill of 4, improved to 5 with a reflex recorder, and a smartlink. Not so impressive, really. He's just someone a bit above average, with some boosts.

One thing to remember about dice pools is that characters generally have to balance being good at something, with being functional at other things. Some characters like snipers or faces are specialists, while other characters, like private detectives or combat medics, have a wider range of skills. The guy with the super-high dice pool may seem more powerful at first glance, but the guy who can shoot, sneak, fast-talk a border guard, drive the getaway car, and patch up his wounded buddies might actually be the more effective shadowrunner. So don't be concerned if you have a wide mix of dice pools. Just make sure that everyone has something they can contribute to the group, and that they can all work together.


Shadowrun is a lethal game, where it is usually easier to deal deadly damage than to avoid it (which is where the term "glass cannons" comes from). Thus, it can be a very tactical game. When setting power levels, keep how this NPC is going to be encountered in mind. If they are ambushing someone, you can make them tough and it doesn't matter as much. If the NPCs are the ones ambushing the PCs, you will find that even weak opponents can be deadly.

Also, don't be worried if the PCs do wipe the floor with some opposition. Shadowrunners are supposed to be elite covert operatives; they should be tough. Remember that a statistically even encounter will have a 50% fatality rate - generally, enemies should be weaker than the PCs. If they are too easy, reinforcements can show up.


This is something every campaign needs to work out. I would suggest high pay, but also expenses such as bribes, new fake IDs, and such. It is important that you give out enough money for characters such as street samurai or riggers to improve themselves. Otherwise, magical characters will advance much more quickly than technologically-dependent characters.


Remember modifiers - they keep high dice pools from completely dominating the game.

One of the big causes of in-game friction can be the nebulous nature of the social skill rules. I would set some firm guidelines to keep characters with high social skills from abusing them against the other characters. If you can only get the Johnson to go so far, up to a set limit, when you are negotiating payment, then you shouldn't be able to tell another player that their character sleeps with you or "lends" you expensive equipment.

I have found the best way to handle social skills is to roleplay most of it out, but keep the "game" stats of the character in mind (in other words, the guy with low Charisma who does all of the talking will sound rude and overbearing, while the quiet guy with high Charisma will have the waitress slip him her commcode).

Thanks a lot for the help!
So, to summarize what we have learned so far:

1) Shadowrun is lethal and everyone is a glass cannon (do lots of damage, die very easy). Considering that ways to hurt people advances faster than ways to soak damage, this makes perfect sense (in fact, it adds a certain flavor to the game). This means that avoiding damage is more important than armor, and the heavily armored troll with a machine gun isn't as scary as he/she seems (if you are behind cover)

2) Since everyone is a glass cannon, the one with the higher initiative usually wins. Surprise is a HUGE advantage, which makes perception skill a must. Scouting is heavily encouraged. Stealthy characters, mini drones, spirits (watchers maybe), astrally projecting mages and hacking the system (or at least scanning the area for hidden networks) comes to mind.

3) There is no such thing as average dice pool because of the modifiers. Excluding the modifiers, avarage would be 7-8, 10-12 decent and 14+ specialist land. If other books are used as well, all levels increase by 2 or 3.

4) Spirits will be used carefully. A party unprepared for a spirit will have a really good time Come to think of it, is there any way for a mundane character to hurt a spirit (aside from being patient, lucky and having lots of bullets)?

5) If the enemy is too weak for my taste, reinforcements will show up. If they are too strong, PCs should have the common sense to turn tail and run.

6) Specialists are good. Generalist are better.

7) Strength isn't that important and Body isn't that big of a deal. However I think bulging muscles has its advantages in some social situations (and for those times where you want to break the jaw of the bastard).

Awards are up to me. Having an idea on how the player's will spend the money (besides ale&whores) should help.

9) This is a tactical game. This is a tactical game. This is a tactical game.


New set of questions:

- Surprise: Everyone involved makes an initiative roll. A character can react to the ones that got less hits than he. Suppose the party ambushes some mobsters. If the mobster gets more hits than the players, he will be the guy to yell SHIT and dive behind the car. The one who gets less hits will be the unfortunate fellow who gets filled with bullets. Did I get that right?

- Initiative Passes: Is the maximum number of IP 4? Also I think that specialist should have 3 IPs. Not that focused characters can have 2 IP. However, a character can fend for himself with only 1 IP and a combat skill with 7-8 dice pool. True or false?

Thanks again!

make sure to not focus on one tactic, that you have in mind, but be flexible. Your players will think of 10 different ways before they even consider the ideas you had in mind making up the challenge. Because it's a game and a game has to be fun, I usually let my players carry out whatever plan they come up with, as long as it's not completely ridicolous.


-if you ambush soimeone, you get a +6 bonus on the test. If you're still to slow, you're in the wrong business or have a very bad day. Yes, you're right.
-4 is max for physical and astral. With an additionial book, matrix can get to 5. Rest is correct. I play an Infiltrator with only 1 IP. He doesn't go into combat, or runs away.

First, you do the surprise test, then you roll for actual initiative.
If the ambushee gets more hits on his surprise test than any of his ambushers, he can make a free perception check to notice what's coming during the first initiative pass. If he makes it, he can react during his initiative.

--Initiative passes: Max number is 4, in the meat. Max is 5 in the matrix (including controlling drones). Combat specialists should usually have 2-4 IP from magic or ware, depending on the game. Less combat focused characters can get away with 2 IPs from magic/'ware or even just use drugs as needed. (Jazz is great for this)

In the matrix, everyone who's anyone gets 3 passes in hot sim. This is the hacker's baseline: it's easy to get and pretty acceptable. 4 or even 5 passes are quite possible, but are a good deal more expensive and harder to get.

..one way to mundane to hurt spirits is Stick n- Shock Rounds..

I love those bullets.
Well OK, I love anything that does electrical damage. I'm funny that way.

Who doesn't? Half the armor, and as long as you hit the victim has -2 to all his tests in the worst case.

My first experience as a Shadowrun GM would have been WAY easier if I had STUCK WITH ONLY THE MAIN BOOK! All the extras are very nice candy, but it becomes overwhelming for a new GM.
Once the game is rocking and rolling along, you can add in a book at a time to the game, as you feel comfortable with the expanding ruleset.

On the subject of IPs - for new players: suggest that they all have the ability to get about the same number of IPs. It can be very frustrating for a new player to be the dude sitting around all evening waiting for his next IP, while everyone else is having a ball. You can even restrict them to a set number of passes, such as max two passes. Be fair, and don't throw speed demons at them all the time, though.

Reminds me of too many games where as soon as someone talked about having higher reflexes it became a race to see who would have the most IPs. Then the GM started having to do the same so some baddies would survive to get a shot off. More IPs are like nukes, unless people self limit it just becomes an arms race.

Yeah this is something I agree with. Too much is sometimes just as bad as too little.

Though you probably want to include more detail for important NPC's, you can sum up npc's with two numbers if you need to make them on the fly. The high number for their dice pools in areas they're good at and the low dice pool for things they're bad at. Depending upon which books you're using and the power level of people you play with, a range of high numbers can be 8-14 and the low numbers can be 4-8. To soak damage you might want to use the higher number (or even a third number) and you'll want to use the low number for reaction without dodge (unless they're fighting a dodge ninja) and the damage value for their weapons. So a trained guard might have 10 as his high number and 5 for his low number. So he uses 10 for pistols, clubs, knowledge security protocols, rolls 10 to soak damage etc. He uses 5 for skills he's not great at, but feasibly has access to, perception, unarmed combat, con, etc. A PC specialist will still beat this character the majority of the time, but they're not a push over. Additionally, you can quickly gauge after an encounter or two what good numbers to provide a challenge are.

You can add further complexity by picking three numbers if you like, and it takes about 15 seconds to create an NPC this way. Possible three number ranges high 12-16, medium 6-12, low 2-5. Again different tables will need different numbers, but this is a generally useful tactic for a GM. Do keep track of wound modifiers and other modifiers that PC's apply to the NPC's.

You people really create npc (other then the storyreleated) ?
ive never in my gm life created an npc ^^ all i do is throw a few dice and make up some numbers ^_^

You're players must be nice. In the group I game with consistency and many times rolling in front of the players (for nonsecret effects) are demanded by players. We don't like cheating GMs; if the GM just makes up everything then my stats don't matter, if my stats don't matter why did I bother with them. The answer is of course to settle arguments about what happens; some people like to have a game not story time.

Obviously, I am not proposing that you just make things up as the GM. But building every npc out like an actual character is really time consuming. Especially when the players go off in a different direction than you planned for. With a two or three number approach, the PCs' stats still matter since the npc stats are fixed. Obviously you pick stats for npcs based upon what you could actually build a character to do. It's not cheating, since a GM can build the npc's with however much BP or karma they feel is appropriate, it's just reduced bookkeeping.

I don't think it's a good idea to roll in front of players, if you have people that meta game (which I usually do in groups I play with).

When creating an NPC on the fly I always have a notebook nearby, where I jot down whatever notes I may need. That way if at the meet suddenly a pedestrian becomes a part of the big show, I can quickly drop some logical, reasonable and internally consistent stats on him or her and then if I need to refer to them I can just look at my notes.

It doesn't happen often because I actually like devoting the time to making sure I have stats for a large number of the people my PC's could interact in a significant way. I'm also careful to make sure that I don't cheat-if an NPC dies, I can make more, or throw more at them if it's that sort of situation. Honestly enough it's damned easy to take their victory and find a story I can tell from it.

"Oh you're the guys who murdered Judy the bartender because you were trying to rip off your Johnson? Yeah she was my kid sister, and I have the vindictive flaw, and a death wish." Or "Gosh you guys are the real deal! You murdered that chick right here in front of me! You must be ready for the big leagues! I have this job in Aztlan..."

Seriously if I want your character dead I can do it a hundred million petty, street legal ways. But I don't want you dead. I want to wring every last ounce of story from you before I discard your semi lifeless body only to have it scooped up, and reanimated to squeeze just that much more from you. Not even death gets you out chummer.

My next project is going digital. 14 dice, the main rulebook and character sheets. The rest will be on my laptop. Chummer (and its dice roller), excel tables for modifiers and rule reminders, name generators (because I suck at names) and pdfs for quick referance. Let's face it, Shadowrun is a slow game; I try to streamline it as much as possible. I don't like writing down statistics, especially for grunts; that's why I asked the "avarage dice pool". Thanks for the high/low dices, by the way
Now that I think about it, I should probably make a generic pool of NPCs for emergency purposes.
Anyway,

Question of the day: What is your take on the "3 separate worlds" problem? Spells are cast in the meat world so no problem there. I haven't read the awakened world in detail (yet. tech first, magic second. this is cyberpunk after all), so no idea on the astral. Hacking in combat = extended tests = the player rolls the dice and waits for its turn, gets bored. Also, I need imaginative ways to wreak havoc once I hack in a commlink.

P.S: It's been ages since I wrote something in English. Damn...

Actually the single most important thing to do is decide as a group what play style you want to go with. It's possible to run and Play Shadowrun with very little and sometimes no combat and you can go to the other extreme and run virtually all combat. Where problems occur is when not everyone is on the same page.

After that making adversaries has 2 general ways to go:
Tailor to the Characters or try to figure what would be realistically used (This choice should be based on the play style the group opted for)

Then when you have some time use a point value as a guideline for developing NPC's or if you need to go quickly use something out of the book and tweak it.

The best helpful hint I ever got was save your generic NPC's on 3 x 5 cards in a box, so if you've stated out Mall Security Guard save it on an index card for quick reuse when you just need one later. For major NPC's they often get their own character sheets and get saved to a binder (or Flash Drive)

We'll there is stick and shock. Also, a good shot works best, wide bursts are better than narrow in some of these situations as the net damage increases from extra hits makes overcoming their immunity to bullets.


Pretty much, also don't be afraid to follow the maxim-dead runners tell no tales, live ones can be talkative, mind probed, or used on a suicide run....


If the group has only four players or less, this holds true. Once the number of PC's (at 5 or 6)gets higher than that, some of the PC's can specialize without detriment. BTW-I would strongly encourage your fist games to be 5 or less. Running more PC's than that is tricky and I find that after 20+ (GET OFF MY LAWN) years running this game that groups above 7 are un-managable and it is better to start two seperate games.




Adding a modifier to an intimidation roll cause you have a troll cracking his knuckles is a perfectly good way to handle it.


My advice is base it on how often you play, just enough that characters can improve in the forseeable future but not so much that in 3 runs they can call in a thor shot.


Yep. And there's subsets to that: Magical, Matrix, Drones/vehicles, and meat.


Yep, not only will he dive behind cover, he can shoot at the same time.

For meat, the max IP is 4, though 3 is more common and 2 pretty much standard runner fare. PC's with 1 IP are at an extreme disadvantage when the lead starts flying, but they can use edge or take combat drugs to get an extra IP.

Well i didnt really cheat, its more like. They run into a group of guards and if youve got some experiance youll know what numbers they should have to feel op/underpowered/even.
So most of the time i did like,
oh they are fighting a ganger, good lets see he has an pump-gun, lets give him 4 skill, take 3 combatpool, well smart yes/no and shoot at them.

When you know what powerlvl youre players have and whats typical for an npc and what should be so that its balanced,
its way easier than planning hours ahead

Also my players are a little to creative so most runs end with a complete alternate ending ^^
ive tried a few times playing pre generated (buyed and selfmade) adventures, it was always a catastrophe.
but who cares, we have way more fun with our style of play

man i feel with you, writing without practice is so hard ^^

yeah i also planned going digital a long time, by now ive gotten all books, progs, maps etc on my pc.
next step is buying a few cheap tablets and a little programming.

i would love if something like that would come from pegasus or the american producers of SR but it seems, nothing like that on the way.
heck i would even pay monthly if i get a cool database like the first weapon/implant books (with shadowtalk) for shopping, a SR google earth and some programs for interactive combat etc
it would make playing way more comfort!

and why the hell is there no official Character generator? i love the work some dudes did with excel but it shouldnt have to be done by fans

whoops double post, sry

Probably the answer is money. Developers don't work for free, this would be a lot of work and it would have to turn a profit, subscriptions would probably be expensive or you'd have to sell a lot of them

i dont see a problem with the money, they could start small.
for start, a simple combat prog (init/damage/spells/weapon/modifiers) and a small Database.
Also for the Database theres not much to write, its more like scan/correct/edit.
Also add Core Rules and a Chargenerator

and you can sell it for all the pads out there, heck it would even give them new costumers.

Face reality, we have 2011 nobodys gonna buy or carry tons of books if he can get it all on chip and slot it in a 200dollar pad
(first gen pads are more then enough for playing SR)

2011 or not I far prefer my physical dice and bag of books to computers. It is a personal taste thing but a big part of the appeal of SR is getting away from the computer and having some interaction with real people.

I personally have considered banning laptops at the table because more often than not people are not paying attention to the game.

If all they do is scan and proof read not many will buy it, they would just use the existing PDF. This really would need to have some added value to make it attractive to buy.

You don't like it when someone plays UA and only pays enough attention to roll dice now and then?

That would be an improvement actually, what really gets me is

"OK you're getting ready to meet with Mr. Johnson, anyone taking any actions?"

"OMG someone redid the hamster dance with squirrels wearing codpieces check it out"

My friends are like cats; if it's shiny and moving they get distracted So laptops are GM only.

As a player I also prefer normal dice and character sheets, hell i got every kind of dice set (d6, d10, d20&co) just in case. Players use normal dice; I use dice rollers to speed things along. Well that's the idea anyway, I haven't tried it out yet.
As for the bag of books... I wish. Shadowrun is not a popular game in here (rpg is not a popular hobby) so I can only buy books online. Usually shipping costs half as much as the book so... yeah.

Chummer is a beautiful character generator. It has its issues, but it's far better than excel tables. The developers could include tech support with bundle products like Runner's Toolkit. But marketing and selling software is too much hassle.

And roll-players suck.

such things only happen 1 time, after loosing a leg or an arm for not paying attention players tend to pay attention

And the main act of tonight's nightmares will feature squirrels wearing codpieces doing the hamster dance.
Note to self: Stay away from the internet when it's bedtime.

I'm sorry

I would suggest to you to sit down with your group and discuss the game you want to run. Then have everyone at least talk about characters. Ideally have them sit down and make up their group. If you are there then you can gauge what kind of game you are going to get, as opposed to the one you intended to run.

This is not a necessity, but it has worked for me when I could do it. Otherwise I end up with one rules molester with 25+ dice in "Kill NPC", a pacifist healing mage, an intrusion expert who does not work with others and avoids all combat, an infected physad who is keeping this terrible secret from the world, a rigger who never leaves his SUV turned poor man's MIG-67 because the Arsenal book allows "those mods", and a face who doesn't get out of bed for less than 100,000 nuyen.

What I love about Shadowrun is the above can still work. But if you get in on the ground floor you can see what your players are wanting and what they are making. By making up an established team to start with they and you can get a feel for things before the first shell casing hits the barroom floor and you can get a feel for the runs that will work and what won't. They may suprise you (my players do all the time) but if 75% of your group are demolition gunbunnies who don't sneak then I cannot see Mr. Johnson hiring them for missions requiring discretion.

I always thought shadowrunning was a little like Hollywood; you can be typecast. This is not always bad as your fixer knows you are a sniper who specializes in those hard to hit targets so he should not be throwing hacking runs at you. Ditto if you have a rep for passing on wetwork so why would he waste his time and yours with runs you won't touch. If your rep says your jobs are loud then loud jobs will come your way and so on and so forth.

Another thing I like to do are flavor runs. The threat is negligible, the payout is nominal, but it lets me showcase the world and gives the PC an opportunity to interact and just plain see how my world works. A little individual time for each PC if you can manage it pays out huge dividends.

This. Number one thing most people seem to skip is simple communication. It doesn't have to be a super complex conversation, but I think you should at least cover the basics: don't be a dick, here's what I as a GM expect and want so what do you guys want or expect?

It's surprising sometimes what people will throw out at you. I've run entire campaigns based off of player suggestions.

For everyone who's ever had to have the Johnson use the line "I was looking to hire professionals, but given my budget and time frame you'll have to do"

It's hard to keep a straight face when you say "I've hired you because you're professionals." sometimes.

Isn't there a bug hive somewhere under Istanbul/Constantinople?

I'm actually a new GM myself, mind you, I've read the books religiously. Yes, I do prefer the hard cover books to a collection of scroll wheel bait. I just get more out of it when flipping pages at my leisure, and being able to switch book to book as needed without much wait time.

I have this new group, only one has ever role-played before. Yes, I have reached a fabled station in all of gamer-dom, I actually have more than one female playing XD, better part is, if they're playing a face character I can actually go through the motions without having to vomit, far from it. So, they're still really wet behind the ears and even I can have all the book knowledge I want, but without previous exposure to running anything that actually lasted a whole mission. One thing I have been to go "on-the-fly" with: Take the highest of each attribute and the name of the character who owns it. Everything I throw at them currently is that stat or lower, since they're just starting out. This makes sure that everything is at least on par, unless I'm planning on throwing anything like a Dragon out at them. I don't imagine they'll get me to that point of pissed off XD

I was gonna ask, each tradition has a set of spirits, IE. Combat: Fire, Detection: Guidance. So if the Mage conjures a spirit for combat it'll only be a fire spirit? I'm also lost on what Task, Guidance, and other undefined spirits utilize. I'm not sure how to work them in if the character wants to craft a tradition that emphasizes one of them.

I think Catalyst would make money on a "Shadowrunning for Mundanes" book XD, so many amorphous rules and unexplained entities. Like, I have no clue how my matrix actions with the group's hacker should be set up.

No, spirits can be conjured for a variety of purposes. They are associated with a certain type of spell because they can only provide magical services for that category of spell. In other words, there is nothing wrong with sending a fire spirit out to look for someone, or burn through a door, but if you need it to do Aid Sorcery, it can only provide this assistance for combat spells.

I'm sure a fire elemental could assist in the casting of Bigby's Turkey Roast.

This made me laugh so hard

Flavor runs seems like a good idea (if you have the time).

My advice is if you're running a new, and inexperienced group is first find out if anyone even wants to play a hacker. if not, subcontract it and deal with it when you guys have more time. If someone does have the desire to play a hacker or technomancer sit down ahead of time with them, or hash it out via email. Keep in game time spent looking up rules to a minimum-and make sure they understand that's how it will be. We use the 45 second rule. 45 seconds, and no more, is spent looking up a rule then I make a call on the field, which stands until the game is over. Then we can spend as much time as we'd like being nerds with books.

Thanks, I had no idea where it said that in the main book (if at all), I do own Street Magic, but it's really hard to memorize everything one would think was key to making a solid magician. Sometimes, I can't even find that type of info.

-Lodges, how to make one, who can make one, and what do they offer?
-Spirits, getting a basic rundown, like lodges. Most info is in Street Magic, but a play-by-play of the life and "death" of a bound spirit would help immensely as a cheat sheet.
-Figuring in background counts when it matters
-Astral perception/projection do's and donuts. How to make the Astral believable.
-Aura signatures left by spells, when to not throw that big ass fireball. Who to watch out for when you do.

@Paul: Okie dokie, I'll have to pick up Unwired if I want to know more I guess. They better not come out with 5e any time soon, I'm spending so much damn money on these books. Thanks for that bit of info!

Like Magic, I just need to wrap my head around crafting nodes, making them a challenge, and offering a unique perspective of Matrix locales that'll keep him from feeling like he's on the sidelines.

I'm starting the characters with just higher than green (320 bp), and plopping them in the Puyallups. There they'll carve an area out while dealing with gangers. Hoping to start small and make the world bigger as they progress along, plus, law enforcement doesn't give two snots what happens in the Puyallups half the time. Eventually getting to the point where they'll be paranoid that every camera in High Sec can see through their clothes. (Which may or may not be the case)

I am QUITE sure these topics have been gone over with a nanofiber-toothed comb, but it's hard to sift through all the detritus. I'm also noticing I should just make this a new thread, kinda jacked this guy's topic XD