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Oro
what are some good tips for RP'ing in SR as opposed to other games?
Kagetenshi
Do it just like you would in other games, but cooler.

~J
draco aardvark
It's much more like a World of Darkness game than a D&D game. You're playing a criminal, so don't invite people back to your house. Don't trust teammates just because they're teammates.

[QUOTE=someone]
1) You don't get experience for killing things.
2) There isn't treasure behind every door.
3) You can't take your weapons everywhere.
4) A single Ork or guard could kill you.[/quote]

"Guy once told me if you're gonna be out making moves on the street, have not attachments, nothing you are not willing to walkout on in thirty seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner." Neil McCauley, Heat

[QUOTE=someone else]
Orks and trolls are just big ugly people, and killing them is murder. Similarly, that dark-skinned elf is just a black guy with pointy ears, not a chaotic evil worshipper of the spider queen.[/qote]

[QUOTE=yet another]
* The only people you can trust are those that have more to lose than you.
* Magic is the great equalizer, if you ain't got it, you ain't equal.[/quote]

[QUOTE=one more]
* Remember everythings legal in the shadows as long as you don't get caught.[/QUOTE]
Sandoval Smith
It's no different than roleplaying in most other pen and paper systems. Make a character you want to pretend to be, and then have fun pretending to be them. Just be careful not to drown in the dicepools. Some people can't resist the thunder of all those six siders, and they do anything to add more, and more, and then oops! Instead of air, their lungs are full of dice. It's not pretty.

Think about real world consequences for your actions. You will not be hailed as a local hero for clearing out a dungeon, especially as that dungeon's inhabitants probably have family in the area.
Kagetenshi
Yes, that's another thing. If you're really going for the full experience:

1) NEVER astrally project with a team you don't know.

2) NEVER deck around a team you don't know.

3) NEVER jump into a vehicle around a team you don't know unless you've got inward-facing machine guns and your team knows that.

4) If your teammate offers you a ride back to your pad, the best option is to refuse. If you can't or think you can get away with it, get dropped off at least a kilometer away from your destination.

5) NEVER leave your gun at home when meeting with new teammates to plan a run.

6) If you're not attending the meet with the Johnson, try to bug someone who is. If caught, always deny and treat the person who found you and the person you were trying to bug (not necessarily the same) as untrustworthy from then on. If your teammates are screwing you, don't confront them, as they may become violent. Either kill them in your own time or leave when they're counting on you.

7) NEVER go to a run without your own way out. The Rigger may or may not be there when you come back, and may or may not be keen on letting you in.

8) If you have reason to believe one of your teammates is a cop, kill them immediately.

9) If at all possible, NEVER let a teammate meet one of your contacts. If anyone asks to, watch them carefully.

~J
Arethusa
There are no rules for roleplaying SR that are any different from any other game. Ultimately, how seriously you take the character and playing the role depends on the game. You can play SR like you play DnD or you can play it with brutal realism, but none of that really has to do with SR specifically.
Glyph
The thing with Shadowrun is that it is an extremely flexible system, so it can be used to run all kinds of different games. In various games, your characters could either be heroic modern-day Robin Hoods saving the world and fighting "the man", scummy bottom-feeding criminals, gritty anti-heroes with mirrorshades and manly unshaved stubble, or a group of calm, cold, meticulous professional freelance corporate spies.

So my main advice to you would be... talk to your GM, so you can get more of a feel of what campaign he is running. Kagetenshi's advice is good, but only if your GM runs a gritty/quasi-realistic game.
Voran
QUOTE (Kagetenshi)
Yes, that's another thing. If you're really going for the full experience:

1) NEVER astrally project with a team you don't know.

2) NEVER deck around a team you don't know.

3) NEVER jump into a vehicle around a team you don't know unless you've got inward-facing machine guns and your team knows that.

4) If your teammate offers you a ride back to your pad, the best option is to refuse. If you can't or think you can get away with it, get dropped off at least a kilometer away from your destination.

5) NEVER leave your gun at home when meeting with new teammates to plan a run.

6) If you're not attending the meet with the Johnson, try to bug someone who is. If caught, always deny and treat the person who found you and the person you were trying to bug (not necessarily the same) as untrustworthy from then on. If your teammates are screwing you, don't confront them, as they may become violent. Either kill them in your own time or leave when they're counting on you.

7) NEVER go to a run without your own way out. The Rigger may or may not be there when you come back, and may or may not be keen on letting you in.

cool.gif If you have reason to believe one of your teammates is a cop, kill them immediately.

9) If at all possible, NEVER let a teammate meet one of your contacts. If anyone asks to, watch them carefully.

~J

Wow. While I have to marvel at the paranoia, I do have to admit that would go a long ways towards protecting yourself.

I think Kage hit on an important point. The feel in SR to me, is more selfishly motivated than other gaming systems. You're generally not doing good deeds for intangible, feelie-good self-esteem rewards, you're doing it for cash or for something tangible. Very mercenary. And when you take it from a mercenary point of view, it's easy to step into a 'every man for themselves' view.

toturi
QUOTE (Voran @ Jan 5 2005, 06:45 PM)
I think Kage hit on an important point.  The feel in SR to me, is more selfishly motivated than other gaming systems.  You're generally not doing good deeds for intangible, feelie-good self-esteem rewards, you're doing it for cash or for something tangible.  Very mercenary.  And when you take it from a mercenary point of view, it's easy to step into a 'every man for themselves' view.

You ARE generally doing good deeds for intangible, feelie-good self-esteem rewards called Karma, that you're getting cash or something tangible is gravy.

You might want to refer to SRComp p80.
Canid13
Good deeds? Since when are shadowruns good deeds?

Sure, my players have saved Renton from a bug hive, but they've also given Humanis a lethal gene-virus which will kill anything non-human.

At the end of the day, you can never be 100% sure why Mr Johnson has asked you to do the job he's asked you to do (or even if the job he wants done is the job he's paying you for). That package he's asked you to 'switch' in Random AA Megacorp facility X isn't a bomb. And tac nukes get very small in the Sixth World.

I wouldn't neccesarily agree with Kage's 'rules' although I do agree that a healthy amount of paranoia is healthy. My players have been together so long they are a team and not just a random collection of runners, but anyone new is treated with warm suspicion and any Johnson is treated as a respected enemy until proved otherwise. Same goes for Fixers.

As yet, only 1 Johnson has been proved 'otherwise'.
Jrayjoker
Talk to your GM and fellow players, figure out what all your expectations are for roleplaying in the genre and proceed accordingly.

One of the toughest groups I have GMed for is full of good gamers, but they all had different reasons for playing and they all expected different experiences. One guy wanted Hong Kong action/physics. One guy wanted gunfights in the streets. One guy wanted James Bond. One guy wanted Last of the Mohicans. You get the picture.

Now I start off games with a little chit-chat about expectations, and all those things are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
Kagetenshi
Incidentally, on #3 when I talked about jumping into a vehicle, I meant Rigger-style (helpless meatbod) rather than just physically hopping in.

~J
Jrayjoker
Ahhhhh, that makes a hella lot more sense now.
Tarantula
QUOTE (Kagetenshi)
Incidentally, on #3 when I talked about jumping into a vehicle, I meant Rigger-style (helpless meatbod) rather than just physically hopping in.

~J

I assumed that... but possibly thats because I prefer to play riggers... with internally aimed burst fire shotguns (enfields with drums work nicely). eek.gif
GrinderTheTroll
QUOTE (Oro)
what are some good tips for RP'ing in SR as opposed to other games?

It's what you decide to make of it but that applies to any RPG.
Jrayjoker
Also, know the system and world as created by the designers, then tailor it to your needs.
Kanada Ten
QUOTE
Good deeds? Since when are shadowruns good deeds?

Obviously how one plays it differs, but one can look at early adventure modules and see plainly that the runners were the good guys. In NAG2NA you even have a term for runners doing jobs specifically as good deeds without payment ('hooding). The game has become less and less this way with even 'hooding becoming nothing more than favors.
The White Dwarf
In an idealistic manner, SR can be seen as standing up to The Man by working outside the system. In a selfish manner, SR can be seen as doing everything for the bottom line. It sorta depends on your group, preferences, and take on the world. Which is of course one of the great things about this game as opposed to some others: everything, right down to the basics of the system and the world, has 2 poles and a world of grey between...
iPad
QUOTE (Canid13)
Sure, my players have saved Renton from a bug hive,

It was a pc's old gang's turf so it was personal. We did spend an absolute fortune on this mission though :/ Alough it was one of the few times our characters probably did something fairly motivated for good reasons.


The problem I see with those lengthy 'trust no one' rules are that it makes getting new players involved hard, we have to wing it so they dont get scared away. I saw on a programme last night on the TV about drugs dealers they have a simple rule 'no new faces'. Your mate wants to buy some stuff, you get his money and buy it for him. I imagen its going to be similer for runners, with a sort of Mafia style vouch for someone system.
Canid13
Which if you remember back iPad, has been done every time a new player comes into the equation, and for every new char save Bruce (though he saved the PC's, kinda, so that's cool).
Fix-it
QUOTE (Kagetenshi)
Yes, that's another thing. If you're really going for the full experience:

1) NEVER astrally project with a team you don't know.

2) NEVER deck around a team you don't know..

NEVER do any of these things alone either.
Nikoli
Hrmm, my rigger's may have to 'modify' the electro-shock option on the vehicle security system...
What was the product name at the beginning of the original Robocop?
Kremlin KOA
Nikoli you were thinking of Magnavolt

and Ipad around here drug dealers go off people's reputations and friend of friend networks...street dealers are more adventurous but they get to know very little of the setup and sections can be cut loose if necessary
Jrayjoker
Similar to a covert cell system? Drop points and individual contacts for cell leaders, but no information on higher ups?
Kremlin KOA
similar you often meet the next layer face to face... but not the layer after and if you turn out to be a cop the organisation discards two layers up from you... or so i've heard
Buck
Make an interesting character that you think is fun to play, and then play him as good as possible.

As far as roleplaying is concerned, there's one difference I noticed to more 'traditional' fantasy RPGs. The latter seemed a bit easier to play, because usually you have a better idea how people lived in the middle ages, than in a fictive future. I remember in early gaming sessions where we suddenly wondered if cars still have number plates, or how to give that squatter some money when you just have a credstick. The reward is having a more complicated world with much more options.

Wounded Ronin
I get ready to play Shadowrun by watching 80s movies.
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