I'm about to start writing up a run/adventure for the first time and gming for the first time. Could anyone offer some advice about writing adventures and running games for the first time.

Help would be greatly appreciated.

Thankyou

Yes. Use a prefab adventure. Don't open up the can of worms of writing your own till you get experience under your belt. You'll be swamped as it is.

Just try to relax and go with the flow. It hurts more if you tense up.

where can i find prefab adventures?

also, ive read the book about twice but i know that i wouldnt have remembered everything, would people agree that i'm going to remember the rules better through playing or running a game and working with the rules even if i have to check the book a couple of times than reading and reading and reading the book over and over again?

Don't script everything. PCs never do what you thought they would do, so writting up the complete story is useless and may even lead to bad GMing if your players feel they are being railroaded. The key is really to be flexible. And remember: your ONLY GOAL is for your players to have fun. If you're trying to lead to a situation, and it seems the players aren't interested, give it up. Come at it with another angle, or just drop it entirely. Never try to force a player to do something. For example, a friend once tried to GM, and he wanted us to meet with a mafia don. We were suspicious, and didn't like the whole idea, so he has us open a door and says "hands grab at you". His plan was to force us to meet the don. But instead we drew weapons, fired covering fire, and drove the hell away.

Also, for details: only make the stats of important PCs. Anyone else can be "all 3s" or "all 5s". Don't worry about making every single precise dice roll for NPCs, it'll only slow down the game. Make maps. This is annoying, but players cannot do without maps.

Just remember, Be Flexible. Don't panic cause the players are trying to do somehting you didn't think of, or if they aren't doing what you wanted. Improvise. Let the players guide you. Wait for them to make decisions, and then throw in challenges to those decisions.

i know more than the players by a mile.

oh, i dont let the players touch my book they have to use the nsrcg with the appropriate books removed lol i only have the SR3 book. so thats all but one removed.
i have dmed dnd before if that counts as gm experience in rpg's

If you get stuff mixed up, ruleswise, and don't feel like ruining the moment by looking it up in the book, be sure to use the Rectal Extraction Method.

If your group's into combat, like mine is, a variation on this is a good, simple prefab adventure you can run. It was the first run I GMed (well, a variation on it...) and it went very well.

Rectal Extraction Method?

lol

SR rigger rules i find confusing i'll admit, lucky noone wants to play a rigger

In the sample run 'They Shoot Wild Horses', many of the groups I've seen would turn down the conditions (ritual sample/alter memory). Be careful when adding conditions to the run as some groups may just turn them down flat, leaving you with no prepared adventure.

More commentary on the prepared adventure:
It's simple enough to be used for a first run, but it railroads too much to get much experience with the game. Basically, the runners sit in a farm house until the targets show up, then they kill them. The thing is that most anything the characters would want to do is forbidden. A first run should offer a lot more options on what to do. Also, you should have an idea of what happens around the run.

In the sample run, where did the villians come from (car, bus, etc), how will they leave, and similar 'mundane' fact that might become very important in the game. Working this out ahead of time can save you a tremendous amount of headache later.

Don't be afraid to let the characters just run over certain events with a good plan, since this promotes the development of good plans further down the line. In the sample adventure 3 or 4 MGs with interlocking fields of fire would make the combat that is the whole point of the adventure take a few seconds. Be aware of the level of tactics likely to be used by your players and try to make sure you don't overwhelm them too soon. On the other hand vilians, can be overwhelmed by PCs (imho). There is a world full of stupid people out there when it comes to shooting at things.

A quick look shows Out for Blood is a potentially better adventure, moslty due to its 'troubleshooting' sections and the fact that the amount of pcs railroading is relatively low.

You could try out a couple of combats before the game, to see how that works. Just have a couple of people shoot at each other, and see what dice and tests you need to roll.

Once you decide on the run, then check what rules you think you might need for different sections, and add notes, or put bookmarks in the rule book.

Oh! I just had a great idea! Order up the Shadowrun Missions first mission. I've got it and I think it's pretty good, plus you'll have a whole campaign arc planned out for you. Great for new players and a new GM. Even if you only play the first one, it's a very good intro mission. Did I mention it's completely free?

If the adventure you end up using can be put up on the web, pointing the dumpshock crew at it and asking for off track character actions and what to do about them may help. There are a few potential adventure breakers available in SR.

Everything Crusher mentioned is why I did a modified run. For instance, they were allowed to be more liberal with explosives, they were allowed to visit the sight of the ritual. They looked at it, and decided to use defensive fortifications, but they didn't have time to construct any. So they had to (by their own logic, not one influenced by me) convince one of the members of the group to conjure a nature spirit to help build stuff. I also made it clear that the attackers were equal in number to the PCs, but superior in ability, thus encouraging them to come up with creative defensive tactics.

Other little touches allowed for a lot more player freedom. In retrospect, it wasn't a great run as written, so it mostly turned out well because I turned down the railroading.

Well, I'd have to say...find "Out for Blood" on the Archives page linked to previously. It's second ed., but you won't need to modify it very much, if at all. IIRC, it's a great early run. And very fun, with a good amount of room for...uh...not railroading-ness (sorry, it's late).

It sounds like you and the group are experienced with RPGs but new to SR. I'd let them choose a character out of the book and slog your way through a bar fight to learn the melee rules and the benefit of armor. Then a little gang attack to learn the ranged combat rules, some more melee experience, and the benefit of armor. Maybe getting into the magic rules in either scenario.

Then, let them create characters.

You know, "Out for Blood" was the first or second Shadowrun mission I ever played. Lots and lots of fun. We still have some running jokes going back to that game. Highly recommended.

The official Shadowrun website has three adventures. I've never played them, but Crusher Bob, above, has comments on one of them ("They Shoot Wild Horses"). Look for "Adventures" about 2/3 of the way down on http://www.shadowrunrpg.com/resources/.

If you decide to buy a book adventures, check out "First Run!". I don't see any on stiggybaby.com right now, but I see 3 copies on ebay.

Here's my advice:

* If the players haven't played before, have them pick from the Archetypes. It's quick, easy, and they're not half-bad.

* Make it a vanilla milk run. Their intel is good, few goons (and all relatively weak), and they aren't screwed over in any way. Give them an idea of how runs ideally go!

* Don't put anything weird in the first one - little magic, no decking (unless a PC is one) - keep the rules stuff to a minimum so they can get their feet wet.

* Don't plug them into an overarching mega-plot at first, either. Sometimes it's nice to have self-contained runs once and a while. It's also nice to have small scope, Sprawl Survival Guide kind of stuff.

* Give them an easy, low-consequence encounter as a combat test. Give a few baddies armor so they can see first hand what a difference it makes.

* Oh, and Blackjack's Dumpshock site has an article called Burnout, with 500 some adventure hooks.

Good luck!

Oh, two more things. As Backgammon mentioned, have maps. Lots of maps. Your players are pretty much guaranteed to ask. Also keep a list of everybody they meet, with a few quick notes on personality, allegiances, and status. Shadowrun is big into the "who you know" kind of game, so there'll probably be a lot of NPCs to keep track of. Start early and life will be easier! And make sure there are allies and neutrals as well as enemies.

I have found that one way to deal with the utter randomness some players like to act upon is to create a highly detailed setting for the adventure. If you know every nook and cranny of their environment, you can let the players do pretty much whatever they want within that environment and there won't be much they can do to surprise you. Its not railroading- its more like creating a controlled environment and letting the players have at it.

For example, lets say they are to break into a corporate office building. You will definitely need a good map (check out the current thread titled Maps for resources), but don't stop there. Decide who will be in the building at whatever time the runners enter. Where are the guards? When do they patrol and by what route? Is anybody working late? If so which room are they in? Are they willing to resist the runners? Are they possibly enamored with the idea of being a runner themselves, and will help the runners? What does this wage slave know about their mission? Where are the fire extinguishers? Is there anything they can use a makeshift bomb? If they blow a hole in the wall, where does it go? Where is the first aid kit? Which employee keeps a flask of whiskey in his drawer? Which employee keeps a gun? Where are the bathrooms? Do the sinks leak? Are there potted plants in the halls? What does the art work look like? How much is the art work worth? What do they keep in the store room? What’s in the top drawer of the desk in room 23A?

Granted its impossible to detail everything, but if you think about these things ahead of time you will find yourself a lot more prepaired for whatever the players do.

And then again, they will still find ways to surprise you....

By the by, I would *NOT* recommend First Run. The Stuffer Shack r0x0rs, but the other two runs are horrible. They have no trouble shooting at all, have plenty of spaces for runners to be 'creative' (aka ruin your plans), and involve characters far too powerful for your PCs to be interacting with yet. I have as of yet to successfully run either of those two missions without the PCs doing something creative that requires I throw out the book.

Flip through the run, check for troubleshooting stuff especially, or see how scripted it is. The less it depends on the PCs acting a certain way, the easier it is for you to run it. Also, you may want to consider creating a few scenarios totally on the fly (ex: make up a robbery in the bank the runners are standing in). That stuff is small enough that it's of no consequence really, but you get practice making things up when you need to.

Funny, GMing is actually a lot like running. Two thirds of the work is in the legwork, but things never go as planned...

Breaking in new players =) Muhahaha...hahaha...

Here's how I start every single Shadowrun campaign I've ever run ( That's about a dozen I guess, over the years)

Have each player tell you about his character. Details details details. I hate it when a sam has 800 000 worth of cyber in him and he doesn't know what half of it is or what it does.

You have to control the world, THEY have to control 1 person. They should be able to tell you everything about their player, every contact should have a story (1 line will do, no need for "War and Peace")

If you players are well fleshed out, yuo can take a look at their respective contacts and then just start the game on a random Friday night. Let them do whatever they want, let them explore the world, the system, my PCs usually end up at one club or another.

The most omportant thing you as a GM has to do (at least for me) is give them a reason to be together. Too many games go to hell because 2 people made diametrically opposed characters and no one can find ANY reason for these two people to talk to each other let alone run together. I hate that.

Last time I broke in new players, I was worried about having no cohesion for my campaign, then I cheated. =)

All my players started the game as prisoners in a top secret compound that was undergoing a very very bad day. Their "suspended animation" blue goo filled pods were malfunctioning, they started waking up ( not all in the same room) and it was all flashing red lights, fires, electrical explosions gun fire and screaming.

Needless to say, with not a one of them having ANY memory of how they got there, they quickly became friends as they found and freed each other and were just damned glad to find someone, even if that someone was as clueless as they were. By the time they escaped (there was 7 buttloads of chaos going on in that base) they had all bonded, knew nothing about each other except that for some reason, they all shared a mysterious enemy from whom they had just escaped.

Like I said, I cheated. =)

I think by far the most important thing to do is give them a reason to be together and then let them explore their own inter party dynamics with anything ranging from "why are those guys trying to kill us?!?" to "partying down at Dante's Inferno."
Give them cohesion and they'll go get themselves into trouble all on their own. =)

Sunday

Just something i may warn you of and it will kinda freak you out....

well a while ago i started a dnd campaign and i have one player who has been a friend for a while and he obviosly doesnt like being told what he can and cant do. For example any dnd players in the house will realise that certain settings have difference restrictions, classes, etc to add to the feel of that particular world. well this guy always wants to challenge me on every point that i bring up and he tells me that if i cant facilitate then i'm a bad gm. I dont have that friend anymore becuase of a roleplaying dispute, becuase i'm quite convinced that when you start roleplaying with people you learn many many many things that you otherwise would not know at all. Including things that will make you dislike one of them.
So basically i havea couple of potential players, my old man might play cuase hes trying to learn to support my interests j/k. and my brother might boot his damn social life for a few hours a week to play i dunno. I have a friend in town that actually got me into shadowrun in 1994 before we even knew the paper based game was the precurser or even existed. but we were heavily into the novels and the snes game. Note: i know the rules cross over are broken but the story and feel i liked. And yeah hes a shadowrun freak from novels etc. so even though hes never played a RPG before hell probably love to play. its just finding him on a day when hes not busy. So thats him and matthew , which means i only have 2 players ;P.
Then again what can you do if you live in a hole of a town with only 10,000 people ;P

Edit: i had more players when i was dming D&D becuase i know more dnd players. And most of them are too stuck in thier ways to learn new things.

oh and i'm a young gm/dm 18 to be exact.

2 players can be very rewarding, because you can take WAY more time to let the players explore their interests and background, you can take more time adding atmosphere by detailing NPCs and settings without anyone getting bored, combat goes faster and it's easier to hold the players attention, so I don't think that'll be a problem. As for your age, man, i'm 22 and I started playing when I was 17, so nothing unusual there.

my uncle the person who originally got me into rpg's (dnd) he said some of his best games have been with 1-2 players.


Edit: i was 17 when i got SR3 and 14 when i started playing D&D

If you happen to speak and read German, the site www.shadowrun.de has quite a few adventures, complete with troubleshooting guides and what you can actually tell the runners. Most of the adventures are pretty good.

Don

No. I meant they're for download. They're pre-made adventures. Here's the link for them.

Some should be getting translated.

Don

no i dont speak german

Heh, I did a little babelfish test on the Stuffer-Shock one on the German site and it seems like it will be a lot of work for any of us non-German speakers to use that resource, although it translates it well enough to get the idea across.

Some should be translated or awaiting that "honor." In the meantime, try this.

Don

I started playing Shadowrun when I was 12. Since I am now 24, that would mean I've spent half my life playing Shadowrun. I've learned a few things over that time...mainly when I've screwed up.

1) If you find that you're talking to yourself during a game session, you screwed up. The PCs should drive the story, not the NPCs.

2) FOOD FIGHT is fun no matter how many times you run it.

3) Never kill off a PC unless you have a good reason. Like they try to blow up a Great Feathered Serpent with plastic explosives. Or they spit in the face of the Senior VP of Security for Renraku. Or something else stupid. Just because the player rolled bad doesn't mean the character should die, just stick them in a hospital. If they do something stupid, they deserve death. Sometimes by Orbital Bovine Bombardment.

4) PCs based on anime/comic/sci-fi characters generally don't last long. They're fun for a game or two, but that's about it.

5) There's always a joker at every table. Figure out who it is and get them so into the plot of the game that they're not making jokes and you've got the whole table.

6) Never work out a detailed story for the PCs to follow, but rather figure out what the NPCs are doing. If you force the PCs do to something, they're not controlling the story and therefore aren't having fun. This isn't an excuse not to do your homework -- have maps of all places there'll probably be combat, make sure to know all your NPCs (what they know, what they don't know, and where they are), and keep track of how the events would affect how the NPCs act.

7) Shadowrun isn't D&D. 4 players is MORE than enough for Shadowrun, and if you have more than 5 you've got too many people. NPCs exist mostly to be interacted with, not to be killed. You don't get more experience for shooting all the security guards in the face than you do for sneaking by them, knocking them out, or fooling them with a fake ID.

Try to be as realistic as possible without taking away from the story. In the real world, when a group of people open fire with automatic weapons in broad daylight, they end up on the evening news. They also have warrents out for their arrest within minutes, thus would probably be recognized and met by several SWAT/HTR teams the second they try to go to a popular club in Downtown Seattle to pick up their payment. Remember, 9 times out of 10, "If you've drawn your gun, you've blown the run."

The Abstruse One

Some tips on here will help you..others will make it more difficult.


It's always hard the first time.


Just remeber what you did right...think of things to improve and keep on evolving as a GM

If you need a prefab adventure, the Quick Start Rules contain a relative milk run.

The first rule is, and should always be, to simply have fun and make sure your players are. I've found out that your players generally tend to have fun as long as you arent a complete boob of a GM.

Don't plot things out in a way that players have to choose between choice A and choice B. When forced to choose between A and B, players will usually choose "pudding".

I also suggest you require written backgrounds for your player's characters. It makes the game more interesting if you can somehow work a character's history into your campaign.

Running your first game is not usually a problem. Most people I've seen run great first games. Its the second one that they have trouble with. I've GMed various games for 16 years. The best suggestions I can think of have already been touched on here, but to sum up.

1. Players don't like to be controlled. Its better to create "the controlled environment" of places and npc's. You encourage them in game with threats, rewards, and encouragement, but in the end they can fight back by being bad players. If they FUBAR your adventure plot, roll with it. Make up a new angle, let them win a round, whatever.

2. The trickiest thing about GMing is challenging the players without geeking them. Shadowrun can be a very deadly game. NPC's that are going to be in combat with the PC's ( securty forces, gangs, starfleet ensigns, etc) should be fleshed out with skills and equipment, but they should be like "archetypes light", slightly lesser skill ratings, attributes. A primary villian can afford to be on their level, or better. Traps should be reasonably noticable/guessable. Provide some clue to get their brains working (don't be suprised if they missunderstand the clue or fail to make that perception test. Hey, they had a chance).

3. Maps are your friend, as is a good verbal description. How you describe a scene either puts them at ease or puts them on edge. Maps let everyone think on the same playing field, tactically. A funny voice or accent goes a long way to defining an NPC in the players' minds. Music also helps set a mood. I have lots of movie soundtracks that I use to give a cinematic feel to my games.

4. With respect to rule #2, in shadowrun actions have consiquences. If the players start to think they can just shoot their way into any situation, then you haven't provided them with a reason to fear retribution. Consider what the players are doing and what the NPC's response would logically be. If they have geeked security forces in a loud, obnoxious way, then they security manager will send in an overwelming force to stop them ASAP, because he does not want to loose his job If the players act rash or without much forethought then make them pay (with a dead character if the dice don't like them).

5. Best GM secret ever. Players make plans a lot. They extrapolate vast conspiracies in front of you about the opposition. Sometimes these conspiracy theories are better than what you had written down. Don't be afraid to steal an idea, or even scrap your adventure plot and take up their fevered impressions. The players will like being right, and you can always twist the plot to challenge them in their self assurance. If they didn't cover an angle that you thought they should, that becomes the monkey wrench to make things interesting. Some night when I've been too tired to really run a good game, this has perked me up and got me running better.


Hope this helps .