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draco aardvark
Last year I played Shadowrun and loved it, but I transfered colleges and there's nobody runing a game here, so I started my own.
I've got several people who have played nothing but D&D before, and I'm trying to give them the feal of "you're criminals working togeather to earn money, not a party of adventurers" and have met limited success. (he invited them back to his HOUSE! and he doesn't maintain multiple bolt-holes, and it was the first run!)

What resourses do you recomend for a first-time GM?
One of my players is a severe power-gamer, my best idea for dealing with him is once he shows that he's more of a threat to a given set of guards, they all try to bring him down, thus bringing his wound levels up. Any other sugjestions? He's starting to rub off on one of my other players, who is jelous of his body score.

What kind of stats should a lonestar officer have? How about a random security guard?
What cyberware is "reusable" from a corpse?

Where can I find more information about the world in general? I've heard of the immortal elves from my last game, but the only book refrance I've seen was a passing refrance in big D's will.
Kagetenshi
Indicate to him that excessive firepower is primarily valuable in allowing you to survive a botched run, not actually completing one successfully.

Random security and lone star should primarily have stats in the 2-4 range. In general it ends up clustering 3-4 because of the need to challenge the players.

Don't sweat it if they don't get paranoia right off the bat. Other things are more important at first.

~J
Herald of Verjigorm
First, get them to like the rules, then try to get them to play the typical characters. If they want to be a group of wandering do-gooder adventurers, try to work around that and help them find something that works in the setting.

As for one super-combat guy, if the others do their own jobs, none of them will envy him. The mage will be hiding behind cover casting spells, the adept will be flanking the foes to get some nice easy hits, whatever. If they all think they are gods of combat, make opportunities for each specialty to work best. This may be hard, but should keep them from thinking that a certain combo is omnipotent.

Random human is 3's. Simple guards shouldn't be much better, but should use tactics to increase their efficiency (and hit the alarm as soon as trouble starts). Lone Star doesn't "fight fair" either. Drones, mages, snipers and other advantages will all be used if the threat is seen as high enough.

Salvagable cyberware, theres a lot, it's easier to try to list the things that can't be swiped. Bone lacing expense is in the process not the material, so that's rarely worth reclaiming. Boosted reflexes is a treatment, so you can't cut that out. Retinal mods should be troublesome if at all viable. MBW has a salvagable part, but a lot of cost is the prep-work. Others may add to or correct that list.

World in general is a big subject. There are some "Shadows Over ____" books that provide approximately continental detail and are very current. Year of the Comet, SOTA (63 and 64) and a few others are general annual-ish updates to the settings. "Target: _____" books give locational details and rules for some slightly less geographical groupings of locations. Immortal elves and all the really confusing plot details are sprinkled into many different books, and are conveniently collated by one famous dumpshocker, Ancient History. The link is in his sig.
Glyph
To get players into how your world works, don't just describe it in neutral terms. Describe it how their streetwise characters see it. Liberally mix in advice and tips, at least until they get the hang of it more. In other words, instead of saying "The bartender looks at you expectantly", say "The bartender gives you that half-greedy, half-cautious look that means he might know something... if you bribe him; 20-50 Nuyen is usually about what it takes." Remember, SR characters aren't the equivalent of first-level characters. They are (usually) hardened criminals or pros already, a few breaks away from potentially making it into the big time.

With that said, don't coddle them if they persist in doing something dumb after they have been given fair warning. Shadowrun can be a lethal game, and if they try something boneheaded like charging straight at the security gate, let them reap some consequences.


What books do you have? That would help me know what to recommend to you. In the Shadowrun Companion, for example, they have stats for people like street cops or undercover cops. Generally, I give grunts 4 in their physical stats, 3 in their mental stats, and skills of 4 for their most commonly used combat skills. They will usually have something like an armored jacket for armor, and carry heavy pistols. You can mix it up by having one or two with heavier weapons. It varies depending on the type of muscle, though. A mall guard might have a uniform that is the equivalent of armored clothing, 3's in his physical stats and skills, and have either a taser or a light pistol. Guards at a secure corporate compound might have 5's in their physical stats, 4 in their mental stats, and 4's or 5's in weapon skills, with submachine guns, smartlinks, and boosted reflexes: 1. One on one, the average, or even above average security guard will get chewed up by a starting shadowrun character. Their advantages are home terraign, numbers, and reinforcements.
MYST1C
QUOTE (draco aardvark)
What resourses do you recomend for a first-time GM?


I assume you already have the rulebook. wink.gif

I think it's more important to get a feel for the world and life in the 2060ies than to overcomplicate the rules or bury the characters under additional equipment.
So my advice would be to get Sprawl Survival Guide (contains information about living in the 60ies, travel, life in the shadows) and New Seattle (expands the information in the rulebook).
After that you should have a look at Mr. Johnson's Little Black Book (haven't read it myself yet but seems to be great for newbie SR GMs).

By then you and your players should know what kind of stories you want to tell and how character development should look like.
That's the time for rules expansions (magic, cyberspace, etc.) and gearbooks ("guns, lots of guns").
tjn
QUOTE (draco aardvark)
(he invited them back to his HOUSE! and he doesn't maintain multiple bolt-holes, and it was the first run!)

Hrm. It sometimes takes a while for people to break out of the "party" syndrome That Other Game promotes. However, since I assume you've talked oocly to the player about expectations on the SINless side of the law, perhaps giving the character an object lesson from the character's past might work.

Basic step-up: Naive young PC meets attractive boy or girl, one thing leads to another... and then the PC wakes up the next morning glad his kidneys are still there cuz everything not bolted down was taken.

Gives the character a reason to be wary and gives you a plot hook to perhaps pull in later down the line (or might promote a self guided quest for the PC to avenge the slight... who knows).

QUOTE
What resourses do you recomend for a first-time GM?

Patience, and a lot of time spent with the rules. Be willing to compromise but also be willing to make a stand for the good of the game. Make sure your players enjoy themselves, and make sure you have fun as well.

Materials wise? Extra dice, extra pencils, extra blank character sheets, extra scrap paper. The GM screen is nice, but not an easy find. Make sure soda/food is taken care of in ways such as to limit their disruption of the game. A quiet place away from distractions. On that thought, eliminate those distractions you can. The source books can be dangerous in this regard, as they are a valuable tool but can also be an issue of distraction themselves.

The best resource is to have a vague story. Let the players fill in their own details.

QUOTE
One of my players is a severe power-gamer, my best idea for dealing with him is once he shows that he's more of a threat to a given set of guards, they all try to bring him down, thus bringing his wound levels up. Any other sugjestions? He's starting to rub off on one of my other players, who is jelous of his body score.

Power gaming, in itself, is not a bad thing. A desire to play powerful characters is just a different style of play, one more suited to an epic campaign with challenges worthy of that power, but not in itself wrong. However, if the campaign is about the daily struggles in the barrens, that style of character is out of place.

What concerns me more is the other player, whom is jealous of the first. Do these two characters share simular roles to the point where the first PC forces the second to play second fiddle in his own specialty? If this is the case, take a hard look and try to find something the second PC has that the first doesn't and give the second PC time his own time in the spot light.

Oh, and never specifically target a character for OOC reasons. If the character's a troll, well, 'course people are gonna aim for the troll first. But picking on the PC will usally inform the player that he needs to build a bigger, better, PC in order to live.

QUOTE
What kind of stats should a lonestar officer have? How about a random security guard?

Depends. Fit the security with what would make sense. The Tacoma Mall security guard isn't going to be a challenge, but that Seraphim from Cross will be a Billy Bad Ass.

Beat cops in AAA rated neighborhoods aren't going to be anywhere near the competance of a FRT or SWAT member, but there is one thing all LS cops have: a headware radio.

QUOTE
What cyberware is "reusable" from a corpse?

Ya might wanna think of the tone of the game before opening this can of worms. Espcially if some of the players begin to associate bodies with loot (with all of it's connotations from That Other Game).

QUOTE
Where can I find more information about the world in general? I've heard of the immortal elves from my last game, but the only book refrance I've seen was a passing refrance in big D's will.

As previously stated, Ancient History. The timeline is useful too. As is the search feature at the top of this board.
Fortune
Get together as a group and rent a few Shadowrun-like DVDs. Not only movies like Bladerunner, Minority Report, and Johnny Mnemonic (no comments on quality please, they all have good atmosphere), but also stuff like Ronin, Ocean's Eleven, Heat, and a host of others too long to list. Let them get the feel of the game's atmosphere at the same time as they key into the mind-set of the anti-hero.
DarkShade
lonestar is scary not because of the stats of individual cops, but because of tactics, a group of shadowrunners will always earn a swat team, check any police movie and you will get an idea.. and any kind of stand off will give time for snipers to get in position..
Magic used by the star would be more the detection kind than the destructive kind, simple watcher or other spirit tailing you.. <that said, a good mana ball is a good way to knock everyone out and sort them out later..> also even friendlier cops tend to use tear gas..
what you have to remember about the star is they call reinforcements as required to take control of the situation. the runners options are basically either preventing the call for reinforcements or else fleeing before they arrive.. stay and fight will nearly always result in dead runners..regardless of how powerful they are.

DS
Johnson
As far as books are concerned. The SR3 Rule Book is a must, as your rules and character generation is in there. With that I would Look at New Seattle, this has some adveture hooks and infomation related to 2063. Then look into Shadowrun Companion.
Then get what your group needs.

Your combat munchkin, commonly known as TIM. He is the Bad A$$ dude. Well let him pick a fight and take him down with stun batons and shock gloves by a group AAA Security guards at a shopping mall. Just shove a few, about 10 should keep him busy.

Do this if he acts really stupid.

LS and KE will take you down. The best is Gel rounds, won't effect a troll in damage but should knock him down. 8m BF weapon to 11S halved is 5S easy soak. But the knock down is high 11 TN. Even a full auto Gel rounds work wonders. Also in high populated areas this is good. No casualties for the Corps to Explain.

Everyone has covered the Timeline Link, other than that read books and comments in the books.

Kagetenshi
5S is not a particularly easy soak, as you need 21 Body to expect to soak it completely with a single success.

~J
RedmondLarry
draco aardvark, welcome to the GM club! wavey.gif

Most security guards will NOT try to take down the bad-ass runner, or the obvious troll, or even geek the mage. They'll take cover, call for backup, and maybe shoot their pistol in the direction of the runners from time to time. They are paid a salary to stand around and look like security guards (which, by itself, reduces problems 99%), handle the occasional drunk, and walk the late-night employee to his car.

I agree with those who say you should concentrate more on the setting than on the rules. You can hook them on the setting. No one will ever come back just because of the rules, unless it's because they like rolling 12 dice at once.

The movie I like best for giving the feel of what Shadowruns do is Sneakers. It emphasises that each team member has different skills and different jobs. Bishop (Robert Redford) is obviously the Face.

Feel free to run an NPC team member. Perhaps an old troll who is just too ugly to die. His last team never returned, and he's trying to hook up with some young guys that have the potential to rake in the cash. He can say things like "Now's when Tony would always take someone and drive by the place, but they never took me so I don't know what they was looking for." Or, "Aw, this is great to see your place. Tony never took me to his doss, he said he didn't want me to be able to blow it if I was caught." Or, "Sheila always did that astral thing, where she'd scout out a building ahead of time. Or she did, up till that time a ball of fire came back and ripped up her body." When the team no longer needs the old troll, and they really love him, have him die in an ugly way to remind them of the dangers of the shadows.

Don't punish your players just because they do something stupid. It only seems stupid because YOU haven't taught them any better, yet. Teach them. Have them hear a story from a Contact. Have the Johnson tell them what it means when he tells them to be professional. Have the Fixer give them a warning when they pick up a new gun or some more ammo. Have them remember things from their prior experiences. Tell them what those memories are. "You remember an Ork once, who tried to take a Pistol into a restaurant/bar. Seems the restaurant was a favorite hangout for off-duty Lone Star, and one of them on their way out saw the Ork hand his pistol over to the bouncer. The Star asked him for his Permit, then his SIN, and finally cuffed the Ork and took him away."

Just my 2 nuyen. Again, welcome to the club.
Nikoli
Wow, hook them on a lovable NPC then make them watch as it dies a painful horrible death (that often could have been avoided if they had just caught on a little sooner). I love that concept.

Also, "the Italian Job", "The Transporter", "The Big Hit", "Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels", "Snatch", or "Beverly Hills Cop" (have them pay attention to the criminals and how they work)

All of these depict a team of motivated criminals who rely on one another to get the job done with minimal fuss.
Nomad
Oh, add "Heat" and "Ronin" to that list.

If you really one to show how heavy combat can be detrimental to players, forget throwing hordes of security guards at them. Physical security can be much more effective. Picture the steel doors slamming shut as they players are trapped in a room being flooded with any type of debilitating gasses, THEN, the guards rush in.
Feonyx
OMG OurTeam "Sneakers" is my all time favorite movie. I can't agree more that this movie is THE Shadowrun movie. Spies, Corporations with an evil side, team work were each member brings something valuable to the table and NO gunfights. If it was set in the future it would have to pay royalties to Wizkids biggrin.gif.

Now that that is out of the way smile.gif

Draco Aardvark, I'm in the same boat as you are and here is what I have gleamed from various resources (mainly these amazing boards).

1) Buy the SR3 book, get a few off of Ebay for your players.
2) Do NOT buy too many resource books until you are all familiar with the system as it serves to confuse.
3) Make a cheatsheet of all the tables and a few hard to follow rules. So at a glance you can read the modifiers to anything (if you can't find the GM screen anywhere (trust me I've been looking for months)).
4) If a meathead with Body 13 is making others feel inadequate you are having too many gunfights. Look at the list of skills the shadowrunners have and make sure each character gets to play a part in each run. Don't go out of your way, but if you have a mage tell him/her he should probably scout out ahead astrally... if you have a Decker/Tech give them the opportunity to hack a bit... even if it is a door or something. Making the players feel needed and wanted makes for a more fun adventure.
5) Leading from 4). I LOVE giving the runners an obstacle that would be a breeze... if only someone had bought the skill envolved... No one has swimming? Looks like the flooded sewers is the only way in... etc. That way people will deversify and not "power game".
6) To follow off from Nikoli.. When they shoot and kill an NPC Guard... make him drop a small photo of him and his daughter at the park... or have the runners notice he is a wearing a t-shirt underneath that reads "Big Brothers Big Sisters 20k run sponser" or something. Make them feel SOOO guilty that they blow some mother away.
7) As someone said on these boards a while back to me. "Have fun. It's a game. Have fun." Make sure you reward people with Karma if they do something awesome and stealthy... That way Mr. Meathead will realise fast hmm.. "you mean rolling up in a place gunsblazing gets me less Karma? Maybe I'll take up the rear and only fight when we flub it." Reward smart thinking. Reward comedy. Reward insanely fluky life threatening rolls.

Feonyx
draco aardvark
QUOTE
What books do you have? That would help me know what to recommend to you. In the Shadowrun Companion, for example, they have stats for people like street cops or undercover cops.

I've got that, but was unaware that they had stats in there. I've got to read my books beter.
I've got the Core book and Magic in the Shadows currentliy, though I know I'll be back to the bookstore for more before too long wink.gif

QUOTE
Sprawl Survival Guide

that's actually one I was looking for, but the local book store didn't have frown.gif

QUOTE
What concerns me more is the other player, whom is jealous of the first. Do these two characters share simular roles to the point where the first PC forces the second to play second fiddle in his own specialty? If this is the case, take a hard look and try to find something the second PC has that the first doesn't and give the second PC time his own time in the spot light.

He did, but after the first game/trial run I let him change his charactor "a bit" and he took "a bit" and went from Assault-rifles to cyberspurs. Now they're not in direct competition.

I've actually convnced the "TIM" into making a backstory, and his is most excelent. My main concern was just that he was always beter at making a charactor more able to kill than anyone else, and how that might unbalance things. But, as you've all mentioned and I now remember from my last game, we all tried to avoid combat as much as possable.

As for the setting: I'm mostly copying from last year untill I've read more of the material, I'm reasonably confident that the players are enjoying the 2060's

QUOTE
Feel free to run an NPC team member. Perhaps an old troll who is just too ugly to die. His last team never returned, and he's trying to hook up with some young guys that have the potential to rake in the cash.

Wow, this is a really great idea! I've been considering puting in an NPC, but didn't want to use any of my charactors as they weren't suited to the group. (if there's one thing I hate, it's a GM with an NPC who does battle 100x beter than the PC's, making them feal inefective)

As for movies, what about "Hackers"? I've seen a decker modeled after Acid Burn, and it's got the "megacorp feal" going. smile.gif

QUOTE
Make a cheatsheet of all the tables and a few hard to follow rules. So at a glance you can read the modifiers to anything (if you can't find the GM screen anywhere (trust me I've been looking for months)).

PDF's are wonderfull, at least untill you buy the book and realize what a pain using a mouse was smile.gif

QUOTE
To follow off from Nikoli.. When they shoot and kill an NPC Guard... make him drop a small photo of him and his daughter at the park... or have the runners notice he is a wearing a t-shirt underneath that reads "Big Brothers Big Sisters 20k run sponser" or something. Make them feel SOOO guilty that they blow some mother away.

oooo! I'll start pulling that out if they try to sell the cyberware smile.gif
(or sell the bodies to the gouls like we did in my last game)
Feonyx
Oh by making cheatsheets I meant... printing them out.. even for all to use so everyone knows modifiers... of course.. you can add/subtract depending on mood smile.gif

Feonyx
GaiasWrath8
Well I just moved my group over from AD&D 2nd. I know it would take some work and I only know how to run Werewolf, D&D, and Shadowrun 2nd.

So I got:
Shadowrun 3rd main book
Magic In the Shadows (Needed for magic happy people)
Man and Machine (Needed for Street Sams)
Matrix (Not that any one wants to be a decker in my game...but why not)
Rigger 3 (Detailed rules on being a rigger and all the cool stuff they can get)
Shadowrun Companian (More options for charector creation)

then for flavor:
Cannon Companion (Big book of guns and stuff that hurts people)
Dragons of the Sixth World (Some rules on PC drakes and great data on Dragons)
Threats Two (...It has more on drakes but has not arived yet...ebay. LOL)
Surival of the Fitest (A cool story setting, preset adventures making GM life easy)
GM Screen (This was hard to find....see my last thred)

Got all that in the last 2 months and I still have three of them to finish reading. But I figure the first 6 are kinda needed to run a good game. Also A GM should know the stuff in these books better than the players....at least thats what I tell myself. smile.gif vegm.gif
Backgammon
Fine advice all around, but I want to particularly reinforce Glyph's suggestion:
QUOTE
Liberally mix in advice and tips, at least until they get the hang of it more. In other words, instead of saying "The bartender looks at you expectantly", say "The bartender gives you that half-greedy, half-cautious look that means he might know something... if you bribe him; 20-50 Nuyen is usually about what it takes."


There are far too many stories of GMs telling of stories about "player is so stoopid" when the players act imporperly to situations the GM should be obvious. The shadowrunner/criminal mentality is NOT universal. Show your players how you expect them to act until they get the hang of it. Glyph's example is so good they should write in the Rulebook!
GaiasWrath8
Thats fine advice...,much better than the way I handle it.......I kill them when they mess up...over and over until they learn to take cover and not threten Mr Johnson for more money. rotfl.gif
Erebus
I'm starting a new campaign soon, and basically I'm having the players (who are new to shadowrun) make new runners. I'm basically going to tie them together plot-wise and introduce them to the shadows via a veteran shadowrunner mentor. He'll teach them the ways of the shadows and then once he's imparted his wisdom, he'll get killed at a dramatically appropriate moment which will further drive the story.
GaiasWrath8
Sounds cool. smile.gif
I normaly just stick to the book for shadowrun. The world was so well created for me it saves me a lot of work.
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